Bono, Product RED, and charity

Idealism at its best. I love it. And have you noticed (PRODUCT) RED, also created by Bono? I was just wondering why i feel pulled toward this project versus other similar projects that advertise a good cause as an additional incentive to buy a product. “(RED) is not a charity. It is simply a business model”.

Apparently it is a licensing model of business. What i like about it is that the whole project is based on the goal to raise money. It is the main business. This is in contrast to, say buying Blend-a-med toothpaste of which 0,01 EUR go to a health centre in Brazil. This is less credible, but i am not exactly sure why. Both projects vy for market-share by appealing to my conscious. Both make everyone better off. Both show off their eagerness to improve lifes... what makes us selfishly altruistic? Big topic; and it happens to be on my study schedule right now.

What is charity anyway? According to the dictionary: “The voluntary giving of help to those in need”.

That doesn´t say anything about the mode of business. Any business starts out voluntarily. Any business is a charity according to this definition. What´s missing is that you give without expecting any immediate return, wether material or otherwise. And the needs in question are usually physical survival needs.

But for tonight, i want to live with the following definition: Charity means redistributing resources to those in peril, to those who need them most. Charity is an investment to achieve more equality in a world where the winner takes all.