Letter To The Editor

Advertising Age

Dear Mr. Bloom,

My subject is the article by Mya Frazier which is caustically critical of (RED) which supports the Global Fund. The accusations, alas, are a hollow charge.

First, (RED) commenced March 2006 in the United Kingdom. It was, as the ad folks say, a ‘soft’ launch. It was fully launched in the United States in October, 2006; that’s four months ago, hardly time to fully register on the Richter scale of citizen giving. (RED) is long term, not a momentary lift.

Second, the money raised by (RED) is hardly an anemic sum. It is substantially more than what the Global Fund has received from corporations since its inception.

Third, some very smart advertising executives with major corporations judge this campaign to be worthy and well worth the marketing funds allocated to it.

Four, anything that contributes more resources to wage war on the AIDS pandemic, one that kills 5,500 people in sub-Saharan Africa alone every day, with too many children counted among the dead, must not be treated casually. (RED) funds have already been channeled to Global Fund-financed programs. For example 11,000 AIDS victims in Rwanda and 15,000 in Swaziland have been given life-extending drugs that were made available with the support of the (RED) and other Global Fund donors.

Is that not a valuable effort? Or should we turn our backs on a rising tide of comforting support from (RED) companies and their commitment to the Global Fund? A lot of people who are sick and dying will be saved by the future funding from (RED).

Jack Valenti
President
Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria