Better (Red)™ than dead? Celebrities, consumption and international aid

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 29, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 711-729

  Richey, Lisa Ann ^a   Ponte, Stefano ^b  

^a ROSKILDE UNIVERSITY   (Denmark)

^b DANISH INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES   (Denmark)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME; AID FLOW; AID ORGANIZATION; HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS; INTERNATIONAL AID; MEDIA ROLE;

AFRICA;

EID: 46749156966     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: 13602241     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436590802052649     Document Type: Article

References (112)

1. Official RED website, at http://www.joinred.com.
2. 'The business of HIV/AIDS', Lancet, 368 (5), 2006, p 423.
3. World Bank, Strengthening Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003.
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5. Global Fund, press release, 26 January 2006, at http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/median_cater/press/pr_060126.asp.
6. However, RED may be less attributable to celebrity genius and more to advanced international fundraising strategies. The Global Fund's marketing and media campaign, which began in 2004, includes 'co-branded product tie-ins' as part of a priority of 'engaging consumer audiences in key donor markets'. See http://www.theglobalfund.org.
7. 'View from Davos: Bono marketing his red badge of virtue', Daily Telegraph, 27 January 2006.
8. 'Bono bets on Red to battle Aids', BBC News, 26 January 2006, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4650024.stm.
9. 'View from Davos'.
10. Consumers can use the RED 'impact calculator' on the product website to generate the possible impact of their purchases on combating HIV/AIDS in Africa. Seeing, for example, that the purchase of one RED tshirt generates enough money to cover the cost of a single dose of nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV creates the perception of tangible impact. It is not our intention in this article to measure and adjudicate whether RED has a net positive impact on AIDS in Africa. We forgo such an evaluation on the basis that, at this stage, it would re.ect more ideology than empirical argumentation. In the popular media criticisms of RED for having a limited impact on AIDS in Africa, given its great expenditure in product marketing, such as 'Costly RED campaign reaps meager $18 million', Advertising Age, 4 March 2007, have been quickly and skilfully rebutted by RED supporters.
11. See 'The big question: Does the Red campaign help big Western brands more than Africa?', Independent, 9 March 2007
12. and Bobby Shriver's rebuttal, at http://www.joinred.com/archive/adage, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4650024.stm. 'View from Davos'. The RED argumentation rests on the premise that the initiative mobilises a previously untapped constituency to contribute to aid for AIDS. Marketing money would have been spent anyway by major corporations. Thus, any contribution made by RED is better than the contribution that would have been made without it - nothing. But, as we noted, corporate social responsibility is increasingly popular, and there is no reason why one can assume that RED budgets would not have been invested by these companies in other ethically oriented initiatives. One can not take for granted that consumers' RED choices simply replace their previously 'unethical' ones, thus leading to a more positive outcome. However, we can observe that the framing of the impact of RED as measurable and concrete (comparable only to nothing at all), is part of the construction of the initiative itself.
13. In March 2002 171 nations pledged their commitment to funding international development at the UN's international conference on financing for development.
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22. Ibid, p 301. The disease burden of HIV/AIDS is 84.5 million compared to lower respiratory infections at 91.3 million. There is also an extensive overlap between diseases occurring in developing countries.
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27. De Janvry & Sadoulet, 'Beyond Bono'.
28. MacKellar, 'Priorities in global assistance for health, AIDS, and population', p 294.
29. S Huddart, 'Do we need another hero? Understanding celebrities' roles in advancing social causes', mimeo, McGill University, Montreal, 2005.
30. According to Andrew Cooper, Celebrity Diplomacy, Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishing, 2008, celebrity diplomats are now taking on global issues of governance, equity and regulation to such a wide extent that we are now seeing the 'Bonoization of diplomacy' (p 3).
31. Huddart, 'Do we need another hero?', p 37.
32. The marriage of branding and celebrity activism per se is not a new phenomenon. The Newman's Own range of food products has been around for 20 years, and its cumulative pro.ts of $125 million have been donated to charities.
33. JD Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities of Our Time, London: Allen Lane, 2005, p xii.
34. Ibid, p 205.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid, p 206.
37. Huddart, 'Do we need another hero?', p 54.
38. See also Cooper, Celebrity Diplomacy.
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55. Ibid, pp 141-151.
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63. C Patton, Globalizing AIDS, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2002, p 121.
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72. See, inter alia, J Finkelstein, Dining Out: A Sociology of Modern Manners, Cambridge: Polity, 1989.
73. See, among others, T Marsden, A Flynn & M Harrison, Consuming Interests: The Social Provision of Foods, London: University College London Press, 2000
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84. Aldridge, Consumption.
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86. D Klooster, 'Environmental certi.cation of forests: The evolution of environmental governance in a commodity network', Journal of Rural Studies, 21, 2005, pp 403-417
87. S Ponte, 'Greener than thou: The political economy of fish ecolabeling and its local manifestations in South Africa', World Development, 36 (1), 2008, pp 159-175.
88. Trentmann, 'Knowing consumers'.
89. Video, RED product launch at Davos, viewed at http://www.joinred.com.
90. 'Motorola joins (RED) to help eliminate AIDS in Africa', RED press release, at http://www.joinred.com.
91. J Guthman, 'Commodi.ed meanings, meaningful commodities: Re-thinking production-consumption links through the organic system of provision', Sociologia Ruralis, 42 (4), 2002, p 296.
92. Ibid
93. LT Raynolds, 'Consumer/producer links in fair trade co.ee networks', Sociologia Ruralis, 42 (4), 2002, pp 404-424
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95. See also A Appadurai, 'Introduction: Commodities and the politics of value', in A Appadurai (ed), The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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98. Freidberg, 'Cleaning up down south'.
99. M Power, The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997
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101. S Ponte, 'Bans, tests and alchemy: Food safety regulation and the Uganda fish export industry', Agriculture and Human Values, 27 (2), 2007, pp 179-193
102. and Ponte, 'Greener than thou'.
103. Video, RED product launch at Davos.
104. 'Shop with Bono'.
105. The RED homepage includes a section where readers can submit their own videos on 'What does RED mean to me?' in the hope of being featured in a 'video wall' of people, including celebrities, talking about what AIDS is. See http://www.joinred.com/you.asp. Also Converse allows people to 'create your own' Converse (Product) RED shoes.
106. See http://www.converse.com/index.asp?bhcp=1#.
107. See http://joinred.blogspot.com.
108. 'Bono bets on Red to battle Aids'.
109. Video, RED product launch at Davos.
110. 'The Lazarus effect', Vanity Fair (special 'Africa' issue edited by Bono), July 2007.
111. 'Want to help treat AIDS in Africa? Buy a cellphone', New York Times, 4 October 2006.
112. Global Fund official website, at http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/ partners/private/red, emphasis added.