The (RED) campaign, in which models and celebrities pitch Gap gear and Motorola phones to raise m... BUY (LESS) targets cause-r

The (RED) campaign, in which models and celebrities pitch Gap gear and Motorola phones to raise money for African AIDS victims, has had a tough couple of weeks, thanks in part to a San Francisco-based Web site called buylesscrap.org.

Launched on the last day of February, the site presents the satirical BUY(LESS) campaign, in which nude models promote the Crap store under slogans such as "(RED)ICU(LESS)" and "MEANING(LESS)."

"Join us in rejecting the ti(red) notion that shopping is a reasonable response to human suffering," says the Web site, which offers links to more than 30 charities, including (RED)'s beneficiary, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

At issue is not just the high-profile (RED) campaign, in which major corporations donate a portion of their profits from designated products to the Global Fund, but the whole field of cause-related marketing, in which businesses and charities enter into what they hope will be mutually beneficial partnerships. The (RED) campaign's major corporate partners are Motorola, Gap, Apple, American Express and Converse.

Introduced in this country in 1983 by American Express -- the company pledged to give a penny to the Statue of Liberty restoration project for every card purchase -- cause-related marketing has grown rapidly since 1990 and raised some interesting questions along the way. Chief among them: Do you have to suffer and sacrifice to make the world a better place? Or can you just buy more cool stuff?

(LESS) co-creator Ben Davis, the owner of a small San Francisco design and communication firm, told the Tribune that he and his two (LESS) collaborators are particularly interested in the issue of financial "transparency."

"We actually understand that cause-related marketing is here to stay but at the scale it's at right now, it's a relatively new occurrence. We think it's time to take a look, to shine a little sunlight on it, and refine it so there's a greater stream of revenue that goes to the charity with greater assurance."

Davis wants corporations involved in cause marketing to give precise information about what percentage of the consumer's money goes to the charity. In the case of the Gap, for instance, he finds the company's disclosure that 50 percent of "gross profits" from (RED) clothing go to charity to be inadequate.

"If there's no profit -- I've heard Gap hasn't been doing that well -- does that mean I've spent $28 on a T-shirt and not a dime has gone to charity? . . "(RED) CEO Bobby Shriver declined to reveal the exact dollar amount that goes to charity for every Gap (RED) T-shirt purchased or to define the Gap's term "gross profits," saying in a phone interview that the information isn't publicly available "and I would not make it public because" that degree of disclosure would scare away corporate partners and kill (RED)."

"And no one has in the seven years the Global Fund has been in business. So if you want to put up a cute Web site and amuse yourself . . . be my guest. It's kind of funny. But when it actually metastasizes into Ad Age claiming that we have spent $100 million dollars -- we haven't spent one dollar, not one dollar -- and earned 'only'. . . $25 million, then we've got a serious situation on our hands."

Shriver says the amount the participating corporations have spent to advertise (RED) is closer to $12.5 million and (RED) has raised $25 million for the Global Fund.

Advertising Age stands by the $100 million estimate that appeared in a March 5 article on (RED), in which Davis of Buylesscrap was prominently quoted.

For each purchase with American Expressregistered trademark RED, 1 percent of the total spent goes to the Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa.

15 percent of the net retail sales of This Make Mine Red shoe will be paid to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (Geneva). Only applies to Converse One shoes that are designated (Product) RED (TM).

Campaign pitch: For print ads, "In addition to all of the logical reasons for using the American Express Card, there is now one that is unabashedly sentimental."

Campaign pitch: In a TV ad, actress Julie Andrews said the Arthritis Foundation "helped to create new Arthritis Foundation Pain Reliever, for pain relief we can count on."

Effect: In 1996, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle allegations of deceptive advertising, among them that the "new" line of medications -- composed of familiar ingredients such as aspirin and ibuprofen -- wasn't new at all.

Campaign pitch: Ben & Jerry's introduces KaBerry KaBOOM! -- a mixture of berry ice creams and crackling candy -- with slogans including "We're on a mission to save playgrounds!"

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