PRODUCT RED: YOU CAN BE A GOOD PERSON IF YOU BUY SOMETHING YOU WANT

PRODUCT RED: YOU CAN BE A GOOD PERSON IF YOU BUY SOMETHING YOU WANT

I recently say an ad for a new phone that has been heavily marketed by Apple, the company just released a new iPhone 8 in bright red.

The sleek new phone is far less boring than their other black, grey, and gold phones as it boasts a unique bright red that few people have.  Not to mention the fact that it is a special edition product.  A consumer like myself may see the cool new red iPhone as something that they want, but know they don't need because they already have an iPhone with all the same functions as the red one.  However Apple has another trick up their sleeve to getting us to dig into our pockets thats more meaningful than a shiny new phone.

Apple knows that we sometimes need extra incentive to buying something we want, but know we don't need to spend our money on.  Apple's partnership with Product RED, an organization that aims to eliminate AIDS/HIV in Africa gives us the extra push we need to buy a product.  It gives us the notion that with our purchase we will help solve a world problem through a contribution of a portion of the profit Apples makes off of the sales on the red phones will go directly to the charity.

Some may say that it is unfair to call a charitable effort a marketing tool,  but although the organization is able to raise money for their noble cause, to big companies Product RED seems to be more of an advertising scheme than a simple charitable initiative.  Apple released the new Red phone over half a year after releasing the standard iPhone 8, but not close to the release of their new models that will come out in December.  Because of this we can tell that they are attempting to target consumers who may have been hesitant to buy the iPhone 8 upon its release, but now that Apple can provide a cool new color, and a good cause behind the phone they may be swayed over into purchasing the phone after all.

Apple isn't the only company that has marketed their product through charitable efforts.   Tom's, a shoe company used their slogan "One for one" to attract tons of customers enticed on the idea that if they purchased yet another pair of shoes that they don't necessarily need, they would also be donating  a pair of shoes to someone in Africa who actually needs a pair of shoes.  The reality of this program was that it was just a way for the company to sell more shoes.  In fact, Tom's has been accused of hurting local business in Africa, as cobblers who would make shoes for people were losing business to the company who provided free shoes to people who would have otherwise gotten shoes from a cobbler.

It seems to me that advertisements and the idea of helping others to reduce our guilt for overconsumption is a match made in heaven not only to ease guilty consumers, but also to add to the profits of large companies like Apple and the many other companies who market their red products in the same nature as Apple.