BONO DEFENDS HIS RED AIDS CAMPAIGN

At Least Bono Is Trying. What Are You Doing ?

Bono is furious at claims his RED campaign to raise money for AIDS sufferers has failed.It was reported yesterday the U2 singer's campaign has raised just 18 per cent of what was spent on promotion, but these claims have been denied. A RED source said: "First of all, RED didn't launch its products until mid-October. And they raised $25 million. Before that, the fund had taken in about $5 million over a four-year period. Before that, they had one T-shirt out and a pair of sunglasses."Advertising Age magazine claimed RED raised just $18 million in a year for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa, while The Gap, Apple and Motorola spent an estimated $100 million on marketing.The source added: "Bono's RED campaign didn't spend anything on marketing."The companies they work with spent a few million each. The Gap spent $7.8million. The $100 million is a phantom number Ad Age pulled out of thin air.It's off by tens of millions of dollars."Now, Motorola has a RED phone, Apple a RED Nano iPod, Converse has RED All Star sneakers, and The Gap has a full line of RED clothing. Bobby Shriver, director of the RED fund, said: "These companies are talking about the AIDS emergency in their marketing and in their stores. This can only help us all stay focused on the fact that 5,500 Africans are still dying needlessly of AIDS every day."

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