Can a tank top change the world?
So asks the October 9th issue of The New Yorker, or more specifically, the thirty (30!) Gap print ads featured within. These ads are part of Product Red (styled: (PRODUCT) RED), an initiative started by Bono and Bobby Shriver in order to raise money for the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Product Red brand is licensed by iconic companies such as American Express, Motorola and Giorgio Armani, in order to create a product with the (RED) logo, and ultimately give a percentage of sales profits to the Global Fund.
The Gap ads have the same look and feel as your generic Gap ads and feature Jennifer Gardner, Steven Spielberg, Chris Rock and a bra-less Christy Turlington. Though I wish the ads were a bit more provocative (after all, we ARE talking about AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), (RED) wants to be clear that they are not a charity. They are a business model. And a simple one at that: “We believe that if consumers are offered this choice, and the products meet their needs, they will choose (RED). And if they choose (RED) over non-(RED), then more brands will choose to become (RED) because it will make good business sense to do so. And more lives will be saved.”
I wait every week for the New Yorker to be inspi(red), cultu(red), assu(red) and (red)efined, and to fell like I am part of the explo(red), discove(red), uncenso(red), admi(red), endu(red), ado(red) world of …
…Wow, did the Gap (Product) Red ads just simply made me (red) and ti(red). And that’s not counting the tank top ads.
Great cause, well defined idea, but why make it bleed through the whole issue?
Posted by: Maria Domoslawska | October 10, 2006 at 09:12 PM