On Thursday workers erected scaffolding inside the Fifth Avenue glass cube so they could cover the suspended, back-lit Apple logo with red material, in connection with the introduction of a special Bono-red iPod model on Friday. Bono will introduce the latest in a series of Bono-branded, 4Gb iPods on the Friday episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show as part of Winfrey’s “Do the RED Thing” to raise money for her African AIDS charity. The pair strolled North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, where Winfrey tapes her show, and walked into the Apple store to try out the new iPod model and to buy 10 nanos. Apple will donate $10 from red-colored nano sale to the charity. Similar pledges are being made by Motorola and the Gap, which Bono and Winfrey also visited during their walk, along with Converse, American Express and Armani. The red iPod is only from Apple’s retail and on-line stores. By the way, even the floor-mounted lights in the glass cube were turned red to enhance the effect. Find photos of the Fifth Avenue logo at night here. Update: Apple put the new RED iPods upfront—they occupy the left-front display table, on the inside aisle, where customers usually walk by when entering the store.
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How do you trade mark the name ” RED ” ? Can I put a trade mark on the color “blue” or is that already taken?
It’s full name is “(product) RED” so my guess is that they’re trademarking that whole term. No you can’t copyright a color, and blue was already tried. The next generation of DVDs called Blu-Ray is purposely spelled Blu so that they can trademark it. It’s really nice to see Apple getting into this, I would however have like to see more than just the nano. I’m looking for a new ipod because my 6GB mini just isn’t big enough anymore, and WOULD buy a RED iPod IF it came in 30GB size, but it doesn’t.
-Brian
I too would buy a 8GB ” Red ” only if it were made in a sweatshop in China worked with my Nike Sport Kit and my Nike shoes made in an oppresive country where the suicide rate is the highest in the world…. Oh wait it already is made there! MY BAD!MY BAD!
I ordered one Friday morning.
nojive69, you’re sounding like an ignorant american. I’m only in college right now, but I know more than you. Yes sweatshop workers make next to nothing, but when Nike’s gone into places, they’ve build housing for their workers, thy feed them, and they get paid more than they were before Nike was there. I’m not arguing that sweatshops are good, but they’re better than what the people had before, which was nothing.
If you want to be a smart person, take a foreign policy class like me and you’ll learn a lot more than you know right now.
-Brian
Aghhh…… yes I remember when I was young and knew everything because the book tells me. You need to see the bigger picture my friend. Have you ever seen an interview of the workers in those camps? Are they ever interviewed alone? Forgeign Policy and America is a real joke right now. And sorry I am actually from the UK.
Did you know that Apple will not let its dealers sell RED because the donation is the margin between wholesale and retail. So Apple will lose nothing from its bottom line and its one more peg in the false reason why the resellers are not as good as Apple Stores. SHAME on Apple.
Actually, adding to the sweatshop debate– While the idea of sweatshops is appalling, the individual who believes he is superior because he is from the UK and no longer a student must not have a firm grasp of American history. That my friend is ignorance. Sweatshops are bad, and they were bad when they existed here in the United States but they were a sign of an upcoming economy, and look at where the United States is today (economically). Second of all, sucide rates are highest in Japan, not China when considering proportions of the population to the number of suicides in the country. Furthermore, suicide rates in China are estimates by humanitarian groups since the government does not report such statistics. (That aside from fact is common sense, sir).
Also, sweatshops in countries like China are not reflective of US Foreign Policy. The debacle in Iraq is, and so would the current conclict with North Korea and Iran. You sir, are most likely referring to policies guided by international organizations like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization and on a local level, the United States Department of Commerce and US Trade Representative in the Executive office of the President.
You are correct sir, sweatshops are evil and as you state, you must look outside of the textbook to find examples of sweatshops proving to be much better environments than those of the past. Extensive work has been conducted on the conditions in cambodia and china, and because of sweatshops, teenagers have been pulled out of “sex for sale” schemes and the number of child rapes is down. You should take a look at the the website of the International Justice Mission where they point out the very successful programs implemented by the United States Department of State, programs which are always ignored by the media and probably yourself. (yes, America does do some good things in the world)
Bottom line, sweatshops in China are bad, but things could be much worse. Families could be starving like those in North Korea, or children could be kidnapped and sold into sex like in Thailand. The United States, and I am sure the United Kingdom, saw conditions of sweatshops in their own histories and the remedy to those conditions (which were far worse than those in China) was time and activism. The conditions in China and around the world will improve as the policies and transperency of their governments improve.
So, you can put down Apple or Motorola or whoever, but I must say that $10 to a campaign, as little as it may be, is much more than nothing at all.