PRODUCT (RED): CORPORATIONS TRYING TO DO GOOD

So, anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I tend to come down on the anti-corporate side of things. However, I'm actually not as anti-corporate as I let on. I actually thing corporations are just fine so long as they weren't extremist corporations. For instance, companies that don't give ANYthing back to humanity beyond the services that humans already pay for is lame. Coca-Cola using up all the drinking water in an Indian village--extremist corporatism. Wal-Mart refusing to unionize, that's extremist corporatism. I'm all for making money, but there's no reason anyone has to be a dick about it. Enter the Product (RED) program created by Bono of U2. The idea is that corporations who want to take help fight AIDS in Africa can offer a special version of a product or a special line of products with the Product (RED) motif. Each of these products that is sold will have a portion of the paid cost put into the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Now, each product has a different amount given to the fight. For instance, TheWife's Product (RED) Motorola RAZR sent $17 to the fight which, according to the JoinRed.Com website, is the equivalent to providing an anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment for one month to a person with HIV. Since I hate Sprint (alas the only cell phone company in the use aligned with Product (RED)) I imported the Product (RED) Motorola SLVR via DrWireless.Com (though I think he's sold out). 10 British pounds (about 20 USD) of my purchase price goes to the fight against AIDS in Africa. We also both picked up the Motorola Bluetooth Product (RED) headsets ($5 from each purchase goes to the fight) as well as one GAP T-shirt a piece (strangely the website says nothing of how much cash is dedicated to the fight, though the shirts are made by Africans out of African cotton, so we're supporting the economy in Lesotho).

American Express has the Red Card, Converse has several shoes to choose from (you can even design your own on their website), Apple has Product (RED)ified an iPod Nano that comes in two different sizes (4 and 8 GB) and there are even more companies that are taking part. I think this is a great idea simply because corporations are supporting a good cause. Sure, they're probably upping the price we pay, but who cares? They're caring, that's who.

And I'd like to encourage it. If more corporations gave SOME kind of a crap about humanity (even the poor humans) I think the world would be a better place.

So, check out JoinRed.Com or swing by MySpace.Com/JoinRed and see what you can buy to encourage corporations to start caring about the thing they need to survive: PEOPLE. (OH yeah, and YOU'LL be helping people, too! COOL!)

Thanks for reading.