How do you feel about (product) red?

It would have to be (PRODUCT) ORANGE right?

Advertising campaigns are fun. I studied graphic design in college, so I was assigned many fake ad campaigns to run.

I saw the whole PRODUCT (RED) thing on MySpace a few days ago. I thought it was being spearheaded by someone cooler than the GAP though...

I'm pretty sure that more than the Gap is involved in that whole Red campaign. The idea, as I understand it, was to create a brand (Red) that crossed brand borders (Gap, Apple, etc...). Bono's the public face of the thing, which is more than enough reason alone for me to steer the fuck away from it.

I dated a girl for four years who was a self-labeled GAP GIRL which I found to be charmingly weird in a sort of are-you-fucking-kidding-me-sorta way. I came to understand the true stamp that branding had left on her soul, though, since she even entered the mall where her favorite Gap store was through "the employees only" entrance, since it walked right into the hall in front of the store. She had many other quirks that were borderline diagnoses traits.

Still, my point is that corporate cheer leading is wonderful when it sells Mitch Albom books to busy failing dot.comers as they saddle across their Starbucks routines, but I am not real clear the actual good awareness has ever done anyone in any situation.

There is the an African proverb that my apartment super used to use after especially vigorous keg parties in the building, "When the elephants fight, it is the grass the suffers." Apt, doncha think?

This campaign will do nothing to "spread awareness" through red shirts or iPods or whatever.

What it will do is raise money, and I'm sure it will do so more effectively than most fundraising efforts, which is the sad part.

These companies do know the mindset of the majority, however, and that mindset more and more revolves around instant gratification.

And, since this is an issue which won't be solved in anyone's lifetime (or possibly ever), people are getting a nice little gift and an ego stroke every time they wear or use this RED merchandise. Now THAT's modern gratification.

Also, gratification- possibly more than ever- comes from BUYING.

No one's at fault here, it's just a sad sign of the times.

Basically on various levels we're all dilluted, bloated, ego-stroking sacks of lazy shit, but that's human nature, okay?

yes I had this nice fantasy where we went ahead and created project (orange), and where we had to make up little words into which we inserted (orange) and offset it with parentheses.

and then, remembering that, in fact, no such words exist, well, that's where it all turned sorta sour.

do you mean "deluded" above? I agree with your basic sentiment, but what do you suggest be done about it?

i dunno r. john, that's just weird.

(although i apologize to all the gap girls out there reading this.)

Deluded.

Solution? See, when I think about a solution to the nearly unsolvable, I want to sleep.

I'm thinking the solution may be as simple as time. A general shift of mindset.

Maybe it will be after decades of mergers and outsourcing that the public wakes up and shifts their buying habits which leads to years of economic ruin- and then possibly apocalyptic ruin.

Then the new race can reemerge and say "wow, there sure is a lot of AIDS" let's do something OURSELVES.

I don't mean to make light of this, but I don't really see a solution. I mean, I just bought work pants from the GAP last week because it's close and convenient.

Hi, Anne, I'm Greg and I want to hear your solution?

hi greg, it's nice to meet you. you look sort of familiar, in your picture.

i think your time solution's a good one; i just prefer to push it a bit, which is why i write, talk, and think about these issues in any forums i can find, whenever i can find them. ask these kindsa questions. i figure, someday, someone might have a solution that's better than mine, and then i can quit what i am doing and go do what they suggest.

You have the best solution, until, you know, apocalyptic ruin.

Then you will not have to write about AIDS awareness, but about how to light a trash can fire properly.

yeh i think product red is a waste of time. 2 much to go in2 here yeh but check out my youtube blog at

and you can hear what i think bout the red and bono and that direct from me yeh? sean

You hate BONO? whatever for?