Companies are Catching the Brangelina Fever
After the high profile African adoption of Brangelina, slews of companies are forking over dough for African relief. Though African AIDS awareness has always been a know topic, it seems that the pop-culture focus on it definitely increased its visibility. Gap, Apple, Converse, and Emporio Armani are joining the AIDS-relief cause with their "Product(red)" campaign (backed by Oprah and U2's Bono). I think this is an excellent opportunity for the companies since they will be able to co-brand with a worthy and important cause while extracting meanings from Oprah and Bono--both HIGHLY influencial figures--to bolster their own. Supermodel Iman also launched the "I am African" campaign featuring stars (regardless of race) in African war paint and feather head dresses. This African relief cause can also lend positive association to the Iman Cosmetics line. Shoe retailer ALDO also launched the "Speck", "See", "Hear" AIDS relief campaign starring stars like Michelle Yeoh and Avril Lavign.
All these efforts seem to be an effort to shape the consumer's meaning making process by surrounding the brand with positive associations. My only question is when will this become so excessive that the consumers are numb and no longer interested. Also when the charity efforts are not congruent with the brand meaning, does it still have the same positive effect/ (e.g. Emporio Armani is a purveyor of luxury Italian fashion, they use furs and leathers. but now they are supporting an African relief campaign?)
posted by Brand007 @ 11:32 AM
2 Comments:
In my opinion, the African AIDS awareness campaign is already excessive, and its value in relation to Corporate Social Responsibility is declining. There are so many companies participating in the campaign that each time I see a new product that’s red and co-branded with the AIDS campaign, I automatically disengage. How is it that all of a sudden, everywhere you look, there is a new Product(red) item for sale. This raises some serious questions. Is AIDS the new Breast Cancer? Is red the new pink? What about the Livestrong bracelet? I remember when girls were swooning over Polo Ralph Lauren’s pink pony polo. What’s going on, and who’s responsible for this?
-Nadia Schwartz
I think another question that needs to be discussed with this topic is whether or not the charity a company is partnering with is relevant to its consumers. The reason why Breast Cancer has become such a popular cause and many companies are piggybacking on this trend to partner with it is because so many people have been affected by it or know someone who was. If consumers can relate to the cause somehow then I doubt that they will have negative reactions to their being so many companies supporting the organization. However, if the cause is not as relevant to the consumers (maybe like the African campaign), then they might see too many companies supporting the cause as an excess and an annoyance (similar to Nadia).
~Sabrina Wells~
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