sorry, bono

So, the whole (RED) campaign has been a bit of a bust by some accounts. Ad Age is reporting that industry experts estimate the various partners spent upwards of $100 million on marketing for it, with GAP spending 13% of its fourth-quarter '06 marketing money on its RED items (sorry, an econ geek just took over my brain for a second).

Anyway, guess how much the fund has made off the products? A whopping $18 million.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have a Product (Red) Razr. I promise it's not because I thought those 17 dollars were going to cure AIDS, though. It's just because I can't afford the Dolce & Gabbana one (yet).


Update: The folks at (RED) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS respond with some poorly-written letters to the editor of Ad Age.