From http://red.starbucks.com/red/default.aspx#/how_starbucks_red_works/
[I posted the following comment on the Wall of the Facebook event sent to over 1,000,000 Facebook users to invite them to join Starbucks in fighting AIDS.]
I’m sorry, but 5 cents per special (STARBUCKS) RED EXCLUSIVE beverage goes to Africa? Way to stretch yourself, Starbucks. What’s your profit margin on each of these whipped-cream topped confections? I’m guessing that it’s quite a bit more than 5 cents.
So the upshot of the quote above is that 45 cents provides 1 day of meds for an African HIV patient. But hey, why donate 45 cents directly when you can buy *9* special RED beverages, which means ingesting 9 cups worth of holiday-themed calories and fat while using and throwing away 9 coffee cups, lids, cardboard heat shields, etc. I can’t believe that this is the best way to get people to donate money to AIDS relief — to essentially encourage them to consume MORE so that a relatively piddling amount goes to charity while the rest goes into Starbucks’s wallet.
Let’s do better, everyone — I challenge the 1,000,000+ people invited to this Facebook event to make a direct donation of $20, $10, hell, even $5 each to the Global Fund. Here, you can do it online, which is even easier than actually going to Starbucks.
http://theglobalfund.org/EN/donate/
If all 1,000,000+ people donated just $5 each, you’d raise over $5,000,000 for the Global Fund without the ONE HUNDRED MILLION cups of coffee you’d have to buy doing it the Starbucks way.
