Red is the new White

About a year ago we saw the emergence of those white bracelets that were all about making poverty history. Now, apparently red is the new white.

The new red campaign. hmmmmmmm....
Summary: With Bono and Oprah as the spokespeople, large corporations have agreed to give a portion of their sales to developing countries going to the Global Fund to eliminate AIDS in Africa. Example- 1 $200 ipod is worthy of a $10 donation from Apple to the fund.

I appreciate the thought, the percentage of money and the effort. However I think it is a fairly sad commentary on the western world that we need to be motivated by ipods and designer jeans in order to give money to the poorest of the poor.

IF I was going to buy an ipod, I probably would buy a red one. However, since I didn't plan on buying an ipod, I'm still not going to spend the $200 just because $10 goes towards life saving drugs. If I really cared I would donate straight to the cause without the thought of a reward or what I can get out of this deal.

There are probably going to be a lot of people (errr- middle-upper class white people) who do get involved and pat themselves on the back for splurging for that extra ipod all in the name of humanitarianism.

That is weird.

Really weird.

Humanitarianism.
Buying an ipod.
Humanitarianism.
$100 jeans.
Weird.

The really strange thing is that it probably will be a successful campaign- when simply telling someone that people are ACTUALLY DYEING wouldn't be much of a motivator.

Ian has some thoughts on the matter here.

If you don't need that ipod, Mike Todd has something you could try--donating straight to foundation of the world's leading AIDS activist, the Stephen Lewis Foundation with nothing but a receipt to show for it.