Oprah
and Bono to Launch New Red iPod To Help Fight AIDS
By
The Associated Press
Talk show
host Oprah Winfrey and humanitarian rocker Bono went on a
shopping spree in Chicago to promote a new line of clothing,
accessories and gadgets, including a special-edition iPod,
that will raise money to fight AIDS in Africa.
Dozens
of "(Product) Red" items will go on sale in the
coming weeks by Gap, Apple Computer, Motorola, Converse and
Emporio Armani.
Portions
of the product sales will go to The Global Fund, an organisation
that fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
"Some
people won't put on marching boots, so we've got to
get to people where they are at, and they're in the
shopping malls," Bono said in a phone interview.
"Now you're buying jeans and T-shirts, and you're
paying for 10 women in Africa to get medication for
their children with HIV."
The
Gap, which will debut its Red line in stores on Friday,
will donate half the profits to The Global Fund.
Apple
will contribute $US10from the sale of each new red-coloured
iPod nano. The model, priced the same as its $US199
cousins, goes on sale Friday.
With
Apple's iPod alone, The Global Fund stands to raise
millions of dollars. During the holiday quarter in 2005,
Apple sold 14 million iPods. The iPod maker also plans
to donate some proceeds from a $US25 iTunes Red gift
card to the organisation.
"I
love the fact that Bono is trying to do something about
this problem," Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said in a
phone interview. "I've never been to Africa, but
you don't have to go there to know there are a lot of
people dying of AIDS there. In a small way, this is
something we could do about it."
Bono,
who knows the difficulties of raising awareness for
social causes, was thrilled with the retailers' efforts
for the campaign.
Gap
had its four-story store in Chicago decked out in red
banners. Apple planned to light up its flagship 5th
Avenue store in New York in red on Thursday night.
"We've
moved from the philanthropy budgets to the marketing
budgets, and guess what, there's no comparison in size,"
Bono said. "We now have some of the most creative
people in commerce - Steve Jobs, the marketing people
at Gap and Motorola - all working for the world's poor.
That is so so cool."
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