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Apple's (Product) RED Charity Contributions Reach $70 Million

Wiesenlooser said:
I hate to say this, but this is hardly anymore than PR.

70 Million in all those years for Apple is really nothing. In return they get a lot of Press for those things and it makes them seem very nice :p
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apparently it did not make apple look very nice to you. so looks like you just contradicted yourself :p
 
brianvictor7 said:
While any amount is welcome, for a company with more revenue than half the world's countries have in GDP, I would like to see Apple commit to much more than this. How about giving 10% of their revenue to humanitarian charities like counter-trafficking, poverty relief, cancer research and AIDS research? Seiously. Can you imagine the good that could be accomplished?
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Now while Apple certainly isn't very public on the things they do, it's very possible they participate towards everything you accused them of not doing. There are tons of blind charitable contributions.
 
horsebattery said:
The problem that usually comes with your argument (and all other variations of it) is that we are taking about the people that hold the power to "lead" or holds some amount of influence that is much greater than most other individuals' in the rest of society.
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just on this point, I bet parents of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates had no clue how much influence they had in raising there sons. And at the time they might have thought "well who am I to influence the world".
 
Xeyad said:
If Apple just made a properly RED iPhone 5c, the number would've been much, much, higher!
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Would be nice if the new phones from 6 on are avail in multiple colors, especially Red, that would be cool, rumor has is the 5C is on the chopping block but who knows.
 
HenryDJP said:
Now while Apple certainly isn't very public on the things they do, it's very possible they participate towards everything you accused them of not doing. There are tons of blind charitable contributions.
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I think my tone came across stronger than I intended. This is something I think I will address directly with Apple since I'm curious.
 
All this money going to fight AIDS and yet no group or any person has told us where they are with this "fight." Sort of like OJ and finding the real killer(s). Or Sheriff Joe Biden who was going to keep track of all the bail out money and report back where it all went.

<crickets>
 
Aluminum213 said:
Or Apple could just donate $100 million to the charity directly and it wouldn't leave a dent on their accounting books

Nothing impressive when Apple could just donate directly. $70 million TOTAL OVER SEVERAL YEARS is truly laughable from Apple when you see their obscene profits every quarter
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Being a publicly held company, there is a limit to what Apple can 'give away' as they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders for sound financial management. Those 'obscene profits' as you referred to them, belong partially to the shareholders.

To put it in perspective, $70 Million is about a third of all the $$ raised by all companies combined who are participating in the ProductRed campaign, so I wouldn't call that laughable, especially in light of the above.
 
guerro said:
All this money going to fight AIDS and yet no group or any person has told us where they are with this "fight." Sort of like OJ and finding the real killer(s). Or Sheriff Joe Biden who was going to keep track of all the bail out money and report back where it all went.

<crickets>
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Ignorant statement at best.
go research the current advances in aid's research.

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brianvictor7 said:
I think my tone came across stronger than I intended. This is something I think I will address directly with Apple since I'm curious.
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yeah, I think mine did too

Don't mistake my questioning of "why not more" as some attack against apple.

I ask myself the same question "why not more" every paycheque and every donation I make.

I think the fact that Apple is doing anything in the fight against AIDS is helpful and I definitely would not wish for them to stop
 
Ignorant person at best.

Reread my post and you will see "current advances in AIDS research" has nothing to do with my assertion. I never stated there were no advances being made in AIDS research. I asked a simple question, "Where has all the money gone?"

You are very angry and defensive. Why?


LordVic said:
Ignorant statement at best.
go research the current advances in aid's research.

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yeah, I think mine did too

Don't mistake my questioning of "why not more" as some attack against apple.

I ask myself the same question "why not more" every paycheque and every donation I make.

I think the fact that Apple is doing anything in the fight against AIDS is helpful and I definitely would not wish for them to stop
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guerro said:
Ignorant person at best.

Reread my post and you will see "current advances in AIDS research" has nothing to do with my assertion. I never stated there were no advances being made in AIDS research. I asked a simple question, "Where has all the money gone?"

You are very angry and defensive. Why?
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your statement actually sounds very questioning on the whole AIDs front.

if thats not what you meant and you were just questioning which aids cause received the funds, than I applogize.
 
horsebattery said:
The problem what usually comes with your argument (and all other variations of it) is that we are taking about the people that hold the power to "lead" or hold some amount of influence that is much greater than most other individuals' in the rest of society. Albeit in this situation the action of a certain corporation was laudable, complaints by the rest of us is the main way in which we can voice our desires in a way to actually make them into something of substance.

An an example, this is one of the most significant (if not the most) reason why the Firefox CEO was ousted. Although his personal beliefs does not (in my opinion) impair his skill from an objective sense, that he is a person of influence is why what happened to him happened. To bring that example back to this story, that is why it is perfectly legitimate for individuals to complain about this story, even if it is nothing but positive in your opinion.
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I'm not saying don't complain. I'm saying don't complain when a company does something you like... even if they don't do enough of it to suit you.

The part about leading by example is specifically about this situation, not a general argument.
1. a person has no moral authority to argue some one or something should give more if they aren't willing to give more themselves.
2. a publicly traded company like Apple can't give more (or less) to charity than general shareholders are comfortable with and customers demand. But if you, and everyone else starts giving a little more, then we have a more giving society. That means shareholders and customers (all members of society) expect Apple to give more and so they will.
 
Aluminum213 said:
Or Apple could just donate $100 million to the charity directly and it wouldn't leave a dent on their accounting books


Nothing impressive when Apple could just donate directly. $70 million TOTAL OVER SEVERAL YEARS is truly laughable from Apple when you see their obscene profits every quarter
Click to expand...

Seriously? $70 million is $70 million. How much have you donated?
 
guerro said:
All this money going to fight AIDS and yet no group or any person has told us where they are with this "fight." Sort of like OJ and finding the real killer(s). Or Sheriff Joe Biden who was going to keep track of all the bail out money and report back where it all went.

<crickets>
Click to expand...

Weirdly they don't hold a webcast called "AIDS weekly" to keep you informed of all the exciting retroviral news.

There are however many, many stories and research papers all over the internet about current medical research and other strategies they are using to fight this horrible illness. You simply haven't looked.
 
brianvictor7 said:
While any amount is welcome, for a company with more revenue than half the world's countries have in GDP, I would like to see Apple commit to much more than this. How about giving 10% of their revenue to humanitarian charities like counter-trafficking, poverty relief, cancer research and AIDS research? Seiously. Can you imagine the good that could be accomplished?
Click to expand...

Why should they give any of their revenue to charity? Apple didn't cause/affect the development of AIDS or cancer. Why should they fund research into cures?
 
iSee said:
I'm not saying don't complain. I'm saying don't complain when a company does something you like... even if they don't do enough of it to suit you.

The part about leading by example is specifically about this situation, not a general argument.
1. a person has no moral authority to argue some one or something should give more if they aren't willing to give more themselves.
2. a publicly traded company like Apple can't give more (or less) to charity than general shareholders are comfortable with and customers demand. But if you, and everyone else starts giving a little more, then we have a more giving society. That means shareholders and customers (all members of society) expect Apple to give more and so they will.
Click to expand...

What "suits you" is entirely subjective. While I applaud that Apple supports such a program, criticizing the amount is entirely within reason.

re: point 1.
This is often the argument used in situations such as artwork critiquing. "You cannot complain unless you can draw something as nicely". You are unfairly drawing a line that should not be drawn, similar to what you said before your two points.

re: point 2.
Shareholders do not have ownership of Apple completely. They have more than enough free capital to do as they wish (without causing detrimental damage to the company obviously). The problem here again is the issue of influence of an individual (the "average Joe") versus that of a person of power (or a corporation). While the former can (provided that they do not produce undue harm to their livelihood) be more charitable, it is the latter's actions which society generally takes notice of, as they are the ones that are usually publicized. Charitable donations also do not have a direct, negative impact on a corporation's free capital. As others have said, these are great PR stunts which (to name two) can lead to increased sales or be used as write-offs for tax purposes. Giving to charities also has the added effect of being difficult to criticize about by shareholders (an others, as evident by a number of posts in this thread).

Yes, it would be unwise for Apple to donate the sum of their free capital to charities, but when the total in this case is minuscule in respect to cash on hand, criticisms is entirely not unwarranted. Just as how certain shareholders complained of Apple's low buy-back totals, others disagreed. That the action occurred however, strikes a parallel to this particular situation as well. You've been simply implying that there's a certain ethereal threshold that needs to be passed before one can issue a complaint.
 
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Should have made a RED iPhone 5C (or a red one). I can't believe there's a weird neon pinkish-red but no red.

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horsebattery said:
Bill Gates has donated billions towards his and Melinda's foundation. What has that done for Microsoft?

Apple is already swimming in PR and sales - attempts to increase that via charitable donations would be a non-starter. As such, it makes sense (albeit perhaps not in the moral sense) that they pay more attention to their stockholders and focus on profits instead.
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People donate to help, and companies donate for PR. Also, I'm pretty sure Apple makes plenty of extra profit selling awesome-looking RED stuff and donating a small amount to a charity.
 
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