lace up save lives

I don't usually do product endorsements but tomorrow is World Aids Day and to mark the event Nike has joined with RED to launch a RED Laces campaign. 100% of the profit from the sale of Nike’s RED laces goes to the Global Fund and Nike’s football based programmes. It’s part of RED’s ongoing work of developing partnerships to fund the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.

If you were watching Chelski beating Arsenal in the London derby yesterday you may have noticed Didier Drogba, who scored twice for Chelski, was wearing RED laces. Today Drogba joined Bono (a key player in RED’s work) and other footballers to publicise the campaign at a press conference in London. RED sums up its approach as educate and medicate; aiming to ensure that HIV positive people in Africa have access to the drugs they need to stay alive and supporting education programmes about the illness across the continent.

The RED laces are intended for football boots but anyone can wear them, though I’m not sure how they would go down on a pair of black shoes at a funeral. Anyway, I think it’s a simple way of raising awareness about HIV in Africa and an effective method of fund raising. The laces would make a good Christmas present for sports mad friends and relatives and for those not into sport there are other RED partnership products. Other companies working with RED include: GAP, Starbucks, Dell, Apple, Converse and Hallmark.