A year ago, Gap launched the Red Campaign, designed to care and treat AIDS patients in Africa as well as prevent future outbreaks. Dozens of products, including Motorola’s (RED) RAZR phones, (RED) iPods, and of course, (RED) Gap clothing. American Express, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Apple, and Hallmark are also involved in the (RED) campaign. This October, Anne Hathaway, Wyclef Jean, and John Legend were also recruited by the (Product) RED Gap Campaign.
Of the profits made from the Gap (RED) clothing, fifty percent is going to the Global Fund to help women and children in Africa who have been affected HIV/AIDS. The idea was to kick-start other private businesses into also contributing to the AIDS Global Fund program. The name “(RED)” was chosen to illustrate the urgency of the AIDS epidemic, with 5,000 dying every day, and the parenthesis are used to say “embrace.” (RED) realized that if the businesses donated 100% of the products, big businesses wouldn’t be into it: they need to make money, too, they say.
By September of 2007, (Product) RED had generated (note, it is not a charity) more than $45 million from its various products. In the four years before this, Global Fund raised $5 million, making (RED) all the more impressive. (RED) co-founder and chairman, Bobby Shriver, said, “I am amazed and humbled by the impact that (RED) customers have made in a year… The shoppers who’ve chosen (RED) and the companies who’ve chosen (RED) are heroes. Each individual’s decisions is saving the lives of more than 30,000 AIDS patients in Rwanda and Swaziland today and ensuring that HIV-positive pregnant mothers receive the medicine they need.”
As Shriver said, $30 million of the $45 million is already being invested in AIDS programs in Ghana, Rwanda, and Swaziland. In addition to AIDS, the money is also going to fight Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Gap (RED) t-shirts are typically white or red with the opposite color lettering. They say things like “Inspi(RED),” “Delive(RED),” and encourage wearers to “Change the World.”
For more information, you can visit the Product (RED) Campaign Website. There, you can learn about the products and Global Fund itself.
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