Apple this Thursday, December 1st, will mark World AIDS Day by promoting its RED products in its stores. A share of the proceeds from each RED product sold goes to The Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Apple has been promoting RED products since 2006.
Apple participating in World AIDS Day
To mark the day, select employees will be sporting a red shirt and promoting the RED iPod nano. Employees that normally carry iPads will have a RED smart cover. Other RED products that will be highlighted include the Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD Headphones and RED iTunes gift cards. At one time it was announced that 10 percent of the RED gift cards purchase would be donated, but Apple no longer discloses such information. In general, Apple is pretty close-to-the-vest with it’s contributions to charity, among other things, so it is unknown how much Apple will raise through this effort.
After being criticized for not contributing enough to charities, this September the company announced a matching program for employee charitable contributions. According to ifoAppleStore.com, the company’s employees donated $1.3 million which was matched by Apple. The company, however, doesn’t disclose how much it donates overall.