You’ve seen the campaign. It features a slew of celebrities, each one artfully shot wearing pieces from the GAP’s RED line— a format that has become a Gap advertising trademark. This time around the cast includes Chris Rock, Steven Spielberg, Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Garner, supermodel Christi Turlington, Dakota Fanning, Mary J. Blidge and Don Cheadle. The celebrity models are captured in poses meant to convey their unique personalities and then in effect branded with their own “RED” label, such as “Inspi(RED)” for Spielberg and “Uncenso(RED)” for Chris Rock.
Like a Benetton campaign, the ads associate a political message with the brand, making the company seem more progressive. The Gap pledges to donate 50 percent of the proceeds from sales of the RED products to the HIV/AIDS global fund in Africa to help stop the epidemic and also aid women and children already affected by it. Gap is reportedly using factories in Africa, and particularly in places where AIDS is widespread, to manufacture the
new clothes, employing workers directly from the communities in Africa targeted for the cash generated by the campaign. U2’s Bono co-founded the charity organization Red, and together Gap says it hopes to bring global attention to the AIDS crisis in Africa, as well as to give consumers a way to actively help the cause through something they’re comfortable doing, which is shopping.
It’s a good idea for an ad campaign, for the company and for the cause. I’m talking about it right now, and after reading this, you’ll be thinking about it too, about Aids in Africa and about the Gap.
Yet, although I’ve seen ads for RED on billboards, in the stores, and through product placement on Oprah, who actually did a show about the AIDS crisis in Africa and bought the whole audience the RED t-shirts, I have yet to see a single person actually wearing the clothes. Corporate-styled self-expression, after all, is different than the real thing. And, sadly, broadcasting your support for humanitarian causes seems trendy: see Madonna and Angelina.
“Can clothes change the world?” asks the campaign. Please, if we could change the world with a t-shirt,we’d be living in Utopia by now.
Tags: advertising, consumer activism
I bought a necklace as part of the (RED) campaign (it says Admi(RED)).The thing is, and this is specified on the label, is only one dollar from every purchase actually goes to Africa. People think that, “Oh, if Jennifer Garner is wearing this shirt, then EVERYONE will want to buy it,” but they don’t want to help Africa, deep inside we all know they just want a raise.
partners like Gap is only concerned with publicity and expanding their portfolio and they are not really concered about raising funds for AIDS. If they were, they wouldn’t be spending more money on advertising than what they actually raise for the global fund