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Vaccines for Development
| The iPod meets the Global Fund |
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| Written by Tom Clougherty | |
| Wednesday, 18 October 2006 | |
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Last Friday, Bono unveiled a new iPod nano on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The bright red 4Gb model marks Apple's first collaboration with Product RED, a business-model set up by Bono earlier this year. Under the scheme, in which brand names like Armani, Gap, Motorola and American Express are participating, companies agree to give a percentage of each red-branded product sold to The Global Fund, which helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Apple, for example, sells the iPods for the usual price of $199 - $10 of which goes to the dollar fund. RED's manifesto quite clear about the initiative’s aims: "RED is not a charity. It is simply a business model. You buy red stuff. We get the money, buy the pills and distribute them. They take the pills, stay alive and continue to take care of their families". War on Want have attacked RED saying: "Cynical marketing ploys aren’t the answer. The problem with schemes like this is they miss the point." But surely it is War on Want, ideological opponents of market mechanisms, who are missing the point. The Global Fund is providing much needed medication to the world’s poorest people and the RED brand lets them raise the funds necessary to do so - as well as raising awareness about disease in the developing world. And, to me at least, that seems a very good thing indeed. |