There’s no better room to be in than this one.
And it’s not just the delegates – happy to be in the same room as iPhone guru Sir Jony Ive and rock legend Bono – but Bono himself who voices that thought.
As founder of global nonprofit (RED) whose partnership with apple was negotiated in no uncertain terms by him with Steve Jobs. “At one point I was going to tell him to stick his phone up his ass – and that’s before the iPhone.” But they did come to a deal – and apple has (quietly) given $75 million to the cause.
Although – as Bono points out – “It’s not a cause it’s an emergency.” Deaths from AIDS are now preventable. And so is the transmission of the disease from an HIV-positive mother to her baby. And all it takes are two pills costing 40c a day.
The fight has been amazingly successful. These deaths have been cut by half. And ‘we could be the generation that wipes out these deaths’.
But – as one national newspaper told Bono – we’re not doing World Aids Day this year. And that seems to be reflective of a wider charitable fatigue.
So (RED) the charitable initiative which has raised a quarter of a billion dollars for the fight against the disease is facing a crisis.
In Bono’s words the heat has come off. And we are the people that can make the heat happen. It is designed to give the industry a sense of responsibility.
But don’t worry about the music. As Bono puts it in a parting shot: “You write the clever copy. I’ll write the jingle.”
