Correction appended
The Product Red campaign could do more to fight AIDS in Africa if it focused less on consumerism, said Erin Burns, national organizer for the Student Global AIDS Campaign, at "The (Red) Question" forum Tuesday night in the McDowell Formal Lounge.
"The messaging of the Red Campaign tricks people into thinking it is making a huge difference," she said.
Product Red is a private initiative started by Bono and Bobby Shriver to encourage private businesses to donate part of their sales to the Global Fund, Burns said. The Global Fund provides money to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world.
As of March, Product Red had donated $18 million to the Global Fund and spent $100 million on advertising, Burns said.
Product Red merchandise includes T-shirts, iPods, cell phones and other consumer goods, according to the organization's Web site.
"Since a lot of students on campus have Product Red merchandise, we thought it would be good to have a discussion," said Ravenna McGuire, director of Women's Initiative's HIV/AIDS Outreach Task Force.
The Gap looks good because it supports Product Red, but the company uses child labor to produce its T-shirts for the campaign, said Mimi Melles, program coordinator for the Youth Activist Network.
"The Red Campaign doesn't talk about [child labor] - they just talk about what they are doing that is supposedly good," she said.
Celebrity-driven campaigns, such as Project Red, create a paternalistic view of Africa in which Americans must reach out and take pity on Africans, Melles said.
Some Product Red advertisements are offensive in terms of race, class and gender, Cutler said. Many of the advertisements feature American celebrities instead of actual Africans affected by AIDS, said Joseph Cutler, a member of the Student Global AIDS Campaign and student at the University of Maryland College Park.
"It's a fashion statement to support the cause, but not a fashion statement to look like the supported," he said.
Lauren Pav, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she thought the event was informative.
"Corporations provide this image that they're doing good for the world when they're doing more harm than good," she said.
Motil-McGuire invited speakers from Product Red, but the organization's office is on the West Coast and could not send a speaker, McGuire said.
The Women's Initiative HIV/AIDS Outreach Task Force organized the event as part of AIDS Awareness week. Other events this week include workshops on how to reform U.S. AIDS policy and a dance marathon fundraiser Friday night.
Campus Progress, Women's Initiative and the Community Action and Social Justice Coalition sponsored the event.
Correction: The RED campaign is incorrectly identified as a charity. In actuality, it is a business model. Also, RED does not spend money on its advertisements; instead, its business partners handle advertisers. According to the RED campaign, no one has accused GAP of using child labor for their RED products.
