Despite celebs, Bono's Red Campaign is in the red

RED LINEUP: The latest to join the red bandwagon are multi-billion dollar companies like Microsoft and Dell.

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London: Two years ago at the World Economic Forum, rock star and activist Bono made a big splash, announcing he was launching the "Red Campaign."

It was a way for people to buy the things they'd buy anyway and feel good about where their cash was going. Now, Bono and his friends are back again with some new partners.

This time it’s computers that care. Microsoft and Dell — the latest multi-billion dollar companies to join the red bandwagon.

A slice of profit from each laptop will go to the UN-backed global fund to help fight AIDS in Africa.

US frontman Bono, launched Red two years ago with his friend bobby Shriver as a brand, not a charity.

“In this I don't ask you to give me money. I hope you continue to keep giving. Here I say to you, this scarf looks good on you or this Armani watch looks good on you as opposed to the watch that doesn't have the red brand or the scarf that isn't made in Africa. So it's what you're doing already," Shriver explains.

So far sales of red products have generated more than 58 million dollars for the global fund. Critics say it's a lot but only a fraction of the hundreds of millions earned by red companies every year.

The criticism doesn't stop there. Charity advisors say that companies who associate themselves with the red bandwagon may have other motivations like making them seem much more ethical to consumers than they actually are.

But red's partners say they're simply contributing to a good cause. But celebrity endorsements, and millions of dollars in marketing, haven’t exactly made red a household name at least not in the UK.