http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/business/06red.html?pagewanted=1
As we all know, The Gap is famous for its partnership and contributions for the Product Red campaign. The Product Red campaign is a campaign started by Bono who is in the Rock band U2. Product Red was designed to raise money by donating profits earned to help those with HIV/ AIDS in Africa. Red contributions have built 33 testing and treatment centers, supplied medicine for more than 6,000 women to keep them from transmitting H.I.V. to their babies, and financed counseling and testing for thousands more patients. The Gap like many other companies have donated their profits for this program. However after reading this article, Red has fallen short. Many critize that a majority of profit is being kept and are just puting a good name for themselves instead of actually raising the issue about HIV/AIDS. The company spends more money on advertising than they do to help those living in Africa. Look at all the promotions they’ve put out,” said Inger L. Stole, a communications professor “The ads seem to be more about promoting the companies and how good they are than the issue of AIDS.” Even though this goes against Gap i thought it was quite interesting since all you see are the adds about HIV and AIDS and how you buying the (Red) product can really make a difference. However you have to think that the companies would not give all of there profit to support this, they do have to make some kind of money out of it. So in the end this really inst surprising at all.
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This is a very interesting article and is very true. So many companies are guilty of this exact same thing. It seems to be a advertising tecnique and i'm sure it works. This is a type of appeal. Consumers will feel better about what they are buying if it is going towards something ethical or cause worthy. Hopefully consumers will start to understand this and not believe everything they see or hear. Gap, on the other hand, has a responsibilty to be integrious and keep the promise that they have to the consumers. Companies should be required to keep a tab on what is ACTUALLY being done to change the problem of HIV, etc.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this article and blog. While I have bought red products and heard little bits about it on the news, I was not exactly sure how the whole thing worked. It is interesting that people are calling it a business rather than a charity. It seems like they really have helped out a lot of people and there are people noticing that. They alone can not change all of Africa and perhaps these people’s standards are set a little to high for them. Gap is a business after all and like all other businesses is striving for a profit, but at the same time they are getting consumers involved in this issue in Africa. So whether or not people are really agreeing with the way that the money is being spent in Africa what is important is that Gap has made this issue known to the public and is actually making a difference. That is ethical of them.
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