World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007 - (Page 19)

Money and Awareness Money raised so far through the (RED) campaign represents the Global Fund’s primary source of private funding, but the contribution is greater than that, said Christoph Benn, director of external relations for the Fund. “It also raises awareness of the issue, which is as valuable as the monetary contribution,” he said. When people buy a (PRODUCT) RED T-shirt or iPod, “they become connected to the cause,” Benn explained. “They’re not just anonymously giving money. They feel part of the movement.” Despite worry from some that the (RED) campaign could take money away from traditional charities, Benn and others say the campaign teaches consumers about the HIV/AIDS problem and often inspires them to do more. “No one’s going to say, ‘Last year I gave $100 to Heifer, this year I’m buying three T-shirts.’ People don’t think that way,” Shriver said. In addition to raising money and awareness, the campaign is creating jobs in Africa. Gap invested money to amp up T-shirt production at a factory in Lesotho, and Motorola began producing the packaging for its (PRODUCT) RED cell phones there, too. Dave Maddocks, the chief marketing www.heifer.org PHOTO PROVIDED BY (PRODUCT) RED (PRODUCT) RED products. They planned to have wrapping paper, greeting cards and other items on store shelves by the end of October. Gap, Emporio Armani, American Express, Converse, Motorola and Apple also offer products under the (PRODUCT) RED label. These products tend to sell better in the United States than the U.K. so far, a difference Shriver attributes to Oprah Winfrey. “Oprah is really the town square of the United States,” he said. “The show she did for us, the way she went out of the studio with Bono and shopped, the whole weight of her integrity being behind the thing. I think it lit it up in America in a way it wasn’t in England.” officer for Converse, likes to talk about the cloth used to make a special edition of his company’s (PRODUCT) RED sneakers. Black canvas hashed with orange and white, the material is made in Mali through a process that’s been practiced for centuries. “It’s this whole fermentation process where they take bark and mud from riverbeds drying after the rainy season,” he said. “They mix in roots and other ingredients. It’s a secret recipe.” The cloth, now used to m a ke (PRODUCT) R ED Chuck Taylors, is traditionally used to make wedding dresses, then re-purposed as receiving blankets for firstborn babies. Maddocks said his customers are embracing these and other (PRODUCT) R ED Converse sneakers. The shoes, like many (PRODUCT) R ED items offered by other companies, aren’t actually red. But they have special labels and red eyelets for the shoelaces that identify them as part of the (RED) initiative. Converse signed on as one of the original partners for (RED) because they liked “the fact that companies can do what they do best, and it’s okay for them to make a profit from doing that and part of it goes to help people,” Maddocks said. Now, during quarterly business reviews, everyone hears reports on how many (PRODUCT) RED sneakers were sold and how many lives they saved. “To be doing what we do and doing what we do well and knowing it’s doing right for the world is a pretty darn good feeling,” he said. Families affected by HIV/AIDS are beneﬁting from Global Fund programs. November/December 2007 | WORLD ARK 19 http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007

World Ark - November/December 2007 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked & Answered Pursuing Happiness (PRODUCT) RED: Consumer Power Fights AIDS in Africa Rwanda Reconciles End Hunger Now Protecting the Poor from Climate Change Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Heifer Calendar Reflection

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007

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