Buy some Red, Donate some Green
12.05.06 - 10:42am
Over the last two months or so it seems like the market has been assaulted with commercials for Red Motorola phones, Red iPods, and many other Red devices. For those of you that live under rocks or outside of the United States, the (Product) Red push is a damn interesting concept in regards to raising awareness and support for the AIDS epidemic that is currently spreading like wildfire through Africa. According to (Red) Manifesto, their goal is to simply provide a unique business model that sells products and in turn helps those suffering from AIDS.
A Short History Lesson
AIDS has been linked back to Africa as it’s birth ground. There have been many disputes and theories on how AIDS evolved but that is besides the point. Unlike the developed world where sexual transmitted diseases have become widely discussed and the population is informed about their threat, Africa suffers from a lack of education, a lack of proper protection, and general lack of wealth to help combat this problem. While HIV itself isn’t an immediate killer, the large number of deaths attributed to HIV through AIDS has decimated the African workforce and further decreased the effective industries of the countries that suffer from severe infections. Children are often orphaned as their parents die and sadly the children have high chances of being infected with HIV and continuing this trend.
AIDS and HIV aren’t restricted to solely Africa, while Africa has more than half of the worlds AIDS cases, North America has 1.4 million AIDS patients. Compared to Africa’s 24.7 million cases it seems to be mighty small, but remember that the United States population just crested 300 million while Canada has slightly under 35 million people, so that means that less than 1% of the North American population is infected. However, this number could explode as the prevailing attitude towards pre-marital sex continues to accelerate the number of sexually active teenagers and college students.
The Goods
Now I didn’t write this to give a lecture on the evil’s of AIDS and state an opinion about pre-marital sex and illegal drug use, rather than those topics, the focus should be on what the (Product) Red initiative can do. As of right now Motorola, Gap, American Express, Armani, Converse, and Apple have released products with a unique red color signifying them as Red products. With the Red products each company will donate a portion of their profits towards the Global Fund to help fight the spreading infections in Africa. Unlike other credit cards that give the user cash back, the American Express Red card has a feature where 1% of your spending will be donated towards the Global Fund. Sadly this card is limited to the United Kingdom, I personally am in the market for a credit card and I would love to be able to make a difference with each purchase I make.
AIDS is real and while it might not have hit the United States as hard as it has hit Africa, given enough time it will spread to every single person across the globe. It would be sad if the downfall of man was caused by a longterm infection that could be prevented, so when you are in the market for a slick new phone or watch, remember that if you buy some Red, you will also be donating some Green. Now if I had that American Express credit card they’d be reaping in the dollars as I slowly accumulate parts for my next project, a shame it is limited to the UK.
Relevant Links
AIDS Worldwide Statistics
Wikipedia AIDS article
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