Brand Aid: Shopping Well to Save the World

‘Has there ever been a better reason to shop?’ asks an ad for the Product RED American Express card, telling members who use the card that buying ‘cappuccinos or cashmere’ will help to fight AIDS in Africa. Cofounded in 2006 by the rock star Bono, Product RED has been a particularly successful example of a new trend in celebrity-driven international aid and development, one explicitly linked to commerce, not philanthropy. In Brand Aid, Lisa Ann Richey and Stefano Ponte offer a deeply informed and stinging critique of ‘compassionate consumption.’ Campaigns like Product RED and its precursors, such as Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong and the pink-ribbon project in support of breast cancer research, advance the expansion of consumption far more than they meet the needs of the people they ostensibly serve.