Bobby Shriver, chairman of Debt, Aid, Trade, Africa, has joined with U2 singer Bono to launch (Product) Red, a business model raising money for anti-retroviral medicine for HIV patients in Africa.
Emporio Armani, Gap and Converse are some of the companies that jumped on board for the project and have designed special collections for it.
You can purchase a red MOTORAZR, a red American Express credit card, T-shirts, hoddies, jeans and tote bags by Gap with words such as “Inspi(red)” and “Desi(red)” on them. Red watches from Emporio Armani, red Converses and red iPods are also available.
Why the parenthesis around red? The project’s Web site says, “We call them ‘the embrace.’ Each company that becomes (RED) places its logo in this embrace and is then elevated to the power of red.”
Examples include (Emporio Armani)red or (Gap)red. The idea is to have everybody, including (You)red supporting the HIV crisis.
They are specialized collections, indeed. One vintage-style T-shirt available for purchase is manufactured in Lesotho, a country in Africa, and is made from 100 percent African cotton.
With sponsors such as Myspace.com and AOL Instant Messenger, the project seeks to reach people worldwide.
Shriver told Allure Magazine he chose the color red to portray the immediacy of the HIV epidemic.
“We want people to be inspired by the clothes, and we used the color red in all of the pieces because it signals an emergency,” he told Allure. “When you see a red light, you pay attention.”
Fifty percent of all profits will go to the Global Fund to help fight HIV.
The project to is already making waves. After just two-and-a-half weeks, enough money has been raised for 10,000 men or women. Money has also been raised to provide a year’s worth of daily hot meals for more than 35,000 children with HIV and 650,000 Rapid Tests – HIV tests that deliver immediate results – according to the (Product) Red online blog.
To learn more about (Product) Red, visit: www.joinred.com/products.asp or www.myspace.com/joinred