About wyzguy

wyzguy

Location:

Not specified

Joined on:

07/12/07

• 2 votes

  Art & Design

  response to  Meryl Rothstein's post Seeing Red

  From the "If you can't beat them, Join them" Dept.

  I don't disagree with the basic notions behind the critiques of the RED campaign, namely that encouraging consumerism as a strategy to address a problem created, in part, by unchecked materialism seems like a short-sighted idea. However, let's be fair, it would be oversimplifying the equation if we argued "Why don't these companies just give the $100 million they spent on ads directly to the cause instead of spending it on marketing the RED products which generated "only" $25 million?" The same rationale could lead to: "Why does GOOD magazine "waste" their money on raising awareness? Why don't they just give the money it costs to publish a mag and maintain a website directly to a cause?" Last time I checked the Gap and Apple are into selling things, not giving their money away. My guess is the RED outlets never generated anywhere near $25M before this campaign and the teenagers buying the stuff had never thought to give a buck to a worthy cause like the Global Fund. That sounds like a win to me. As for promoting more consumerism than already exists...now that would be impossible.

  Comments (0)

  Commented on July 12, 2007 by - wyzguy