On ReflectionBetter red than dead

摘要

Europe's second largest discount airline, easyjet, has an office just around the corner from The Lancet's home in London. The fluorescent orange easyjet sign is hard to miss and the colour has become an integral part of the easyjet brand. But easyjet is not the only company to use that colour. Orange, the mobile phone operator, is taking Stelios Haji-loannou, easyjet's flamboyant owner, to court for using orange-coloured easyMobile marketing materials. The courts will decide later this year whether a company can lay claim to sole use of a colour.Perhaps two new health initiatives-Product Red and Go Red for Women-will also come to blows. Strictly speaking, Go Red for Women got there first when they launched their initiative last year; the campaign, which is organised by the American Heart Association, aims to raise awareness of heart disease in women. However, U2 frontman Bono launched Product Red at the World Economic Forum in Davos iast month to much fanfare. The charity has convinced American Express, Converse, Gap, and Giorgio Armani to produce and sell specially made red products and to give a proportion of the profits to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.So far, corporations have donated USdollar5 million, out of a total of dollar4-7 billion, to the Global Fund. Bono and Product Red CEO Bobby Shriver hope to raise hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 5 years through their initiative. Importantly, they see it as a commercial, rather than as an altruistic, endeavour. The Go Red for Women campaign has also teamed up with several corporate partners, including Macy's. The department store has created red merchandise for the campaign and Will host sponsored events in its stores.