The (RED) Campaign is beginning to come under attack from anti-consumerism groups as well as being scrutinized over at PSFK. I think the reactions and scrutiny are natural given how visible the campaign is and the major brands that are involved.

My two cents on this: Without getting into the numbers and how much they should be pulling in vs. what they have made and donated, my biggest beef with (RED) is that there isn't enough of an educational component or way to participate without buying products. Young people want to help support the distribution of AIDS medications in Africa — they just might not want to buy from The Gap for other reasons. There is such a huge opportunity to build out a community, a movement around what they're doing - look at Invisible Children. The one page on their site that describes the work of the Global Fund is here.

I understand the need to be focused in their efforts, but I really believe that young people want more engagement, involvement and education around making a difference. Just buying a product isn't enough. I also think partnering with The Gap is proving challenging — we all know they are struggling with their brand right now. And for socially conscious young people, they have a sordid history with their sketchy record on sweatshop labor. The negative connotations with the brand and the heavy use of celebrities just seems to invite this sort of response from certain circles, i.e. the (LESS) campaign shown in the photo. I found this on Josh Spear's site, but the link doesn't seem to be working.

Here are my tips for improving the (RED) campaign:

1) Launch a targeted youth focused effort - partner with brands youth love right now (or focus on Motorola, iPod and Converse (RED) products) and expand beyond just the consumer role/focus. Recruit young (RED) ambassadors, send them to Africa, let them see the impact, come back and share their experience and inspire others.

2) Make your website more of a community for people who care about this issue full of recent news and information about AIDS in Africa, add a blog or social networking features, some way for people to participate with their feedback, suggestions, opinions and reports from the field as well as a way for them to connect with each other.

3) Create a non-consumer focused educational curriculum for high schools and recruit an army of young inspirational speakers. Let young people raise money in other ways for (RED) - create and sell their own (RED) t-shirts, have a bakesale with (RED) cookies or cupcakes, etc.

4) Use music more - you have iPod and Bono, recruit more artists, stage concerts and other music oriented (RED) events for young people to attend and get educated about the cause.

What are your suggestions for (RED)?

Update: AdAge.com (reg. required), posted a critical look at the (RED) campaign…

Another Update: Ypulse reader Seni wrote in to say:

I'm a senior at the NYU Stern business school and I've been following the recent dialogue between PSFK and (RED) and strongly agree with your position. Especially the awareness factor.

So you have 50k students in the middle of Manhattan - basically kids that live in the thick of cool & trendy - where you have perhaps the biggest ad push by (RED) and almost nobody knows what it stands for; even those kids that have bought (RED) apparel. Based on a personal poll I conducted on campus (100 kids) only 12% of students had heard of the campaign and only 2% of the total sample had an understanding of the charity behind it. I don't know where they got their numbers, but if NYU students don't really know what the hell the (RED) campaign represents, it doesn't give me much hope. The biggest issue with this is that they are only focusing on the $$$ aspect and not empowering or educating consumers to actually do anything; especially the youth.

Seni also attached a short proposal she sent (RED) about creating a presence in Second Life with a big educational component. (RED) could also partner with other popular virtual worlds for teens like Habbo, Virtual Laguna Beach/Hills or any of the virtual fashion sites - Stardoll, Gaia, etc….

(RED) responds: Ypulse reader Bich let me know that Bobby Shriver has responded to the AdAge article on the (RED) site. She also pointed out they do have community building efforts happening: "Our blog is linked in a button right at the top of JOINRED.COM - 250,000 visits since May 2006. Its url is http://joinred.blogspot.com. People DO post comments about the issue there and on our MySpace page." They do have over 600K friends. I somehow totally missed the blog button on their site.

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