Bono’s (Red) Campaign: Blood Money?
Bono’s ostentatious (RED) campaign has been making waves lately due to some figures that have recently come to light. For the uninitiated, the (RED) campaign donates a certain amount of money for every (RED) product someone buys. Like an iPod or GAP t-shirt with the (RED) logo on it.
Here’s what the row’s all about:
- Money spent promoting the (RED) campaign as calculated by Advertising Age: $100 million.
- Money raised by the (RED) campaign for AIDS prevention and education in Africa: $18 million.
Seems a little off, eh?
In one corner, the watchdog bleeding hearts are saying that Bono is a vacuous turd who’s gone too far. In the other, the (RED) camp has said the marketing dollars would’ve been spent marketing the t-shirts and other schwag anyway, but now it’s been spent marketing a product that helps someone… (Besides Bono)
I’m throwing in with the bleeding hearts on this one. I hate Bono, mainly for the whole sunglasses-all-the-time thing, but I also think it is slightly in the wrong to exploit an entire continent in the grips of an epidemic. Especially when it’s just in order to boost your own status among other rich douche-bags of the world.
If that paragraph was the bad, this is the ugly: The fact that he thinks, “I was going to drop $100 million aggrandizing myself anyway.” (paraphrased) passes as an excuse shows the man’s true hubris.
Look, Bono, The Joshua Tree changed my life in high school, but that was a long time ago, and I grow weary of the $700 rose colored glasses you see yourself through. Nice tax dodge, though. Seriously.
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