Red Campaign’s Promotion Costs Under Scrutiny

Just how much money the much-publicized Product (Red) campaign has raised to fight AIDS around the world is under question.

Advertising Age, says that the campaign’s marketing budget has far exceeded the money raised. Product (Red) enlists companies to sell specific products to benefit the campaign and gives a portion of the proceeds to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Advertising Age says the campaign has spent as much as $100-million on marketing and raised $18-million for the global fund. However, the article says that Product (Red) believes far more has been raised, since many of the companies that support the campaign have not announced their giving for 2006.

CNNMoney.com reported that Sheila Roche, head of public relations at the Global Fund, said the $100-million estimate reported by Advertising Age was “wrong” and an “overcalculation.”