Product (RED)

Bono, Bill Gates and Michael Dell launch Microsoft Windows and Dell as PRODUCT (RED) partners at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2008
Bono, Bill Gates and Michael Dell launch Microsoft Windows and Dell as PRODUCT (RED) partners at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2008. ©(RED)
(RED) Taps Socially Conscious Consumers
Watch video - NBC: (RED), which is described as a brand designed to engage the private sector in the fight against AIDS, is tapping into the rising trend of consumers with a social conscious. Healthy Horizons investigates.

(PRODUCT) RED™ was created to engage the private sector in the fight against AIDS in order to deliver a sustainable flow of funds to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and to raise public awareness about HIV and AIDS in Africa. Companies whose products take on the (PRODUCT) RED mark contribute a portion of profits from the sale of that product to Global Fund financed HIV/AIDS programs in Africa.

(RED) works with the world’s best brands to make unique (PRODUCT) RED-branded products and direct up to 50% of their gross profits to the Global Fund to invest in African AIDS programs with a focus on the health of women and children. (RED) is not a charity or "campaign". It is an economic initiative that aims to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund.  

As of December 2009, (RED) partnerships with American Express (U.K. only), Apple, Bugaboo, Converse, Dell, Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark and Starbucks and (RED) events have generated US$ 140 million for the Global Fund.

(RED) money flows to four countries in Africa - Rwanda, Swaziland, Ghana and Lesotho. These locally-designed comprehensive programs provide antiretroviral therapy for HIV positive individuals, support HIV prevention, feed and educate children orphaned by AIDS and provide the low-cost treatments needed to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV from mother to child. 100% of all (RED) contributions are channeled into implementation, no overhead is taken out.

(PRODUCT) RED is the first initiative to bring together some of the world's leading companies as partners in a joint commitment to channel a percentage of profits to assist in the fight against the AIDS pandemic. (PRODUCT) RED has become one of the largest consumer-based income-generating initiatives by the private sector for an international humanitarian cause.

“We chose to work with the Global Fund because it is the world’s largest and most effective financer of the fight against HIV and AIDS. The Global Fund’s country-led, performance-based model puts the countries themselves in charge of designing solutions appropriate for them and making the programs work locally. The Global Fund adds a layer of performance measurements that help ensure full transparency and accountability, ensuring that every dollar is well spent and accounted for. This is incredibly important to us. We want all of the people who choose (RED) to know that every dollar they help generate has a direct impact on people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.”
Susan Smith Ellis, CEO, (RED)

For more information about (RED), visit www.joinred.com