Sniping at Bono

Bono's latest third-world fund-raising initiative – the launch of a new conscience driven brand called Product Red that will be attached to a range of clothing and financial products, with a small proportion of the profits being used to fund Aids treatment in Africa – got relatively little coverage in Ireland. Some of what appeared was of the usual predictable sneering variety.

The high priest of snide, Liam Fay at the Sunday Times, was especially damning in his condemnation of the idea. Recalling U2's involvement in the embarrassing Self-Aid attempt 20 years ago to create jobs for Ireland's young through a concert, he described Red as "more ambitious but no less naïve a collaboration with big business", claiming that a mere 1 percent of the profits would go to its target. (It's not clear just what proportion will accrue, as only American Express to date has revealed its financial involvement, pledging to donate 1 percent of what is spend on a card each month and 1.25 per cent of any spending over €5,000).

American Express will be joined by Armani, Gap and Converse (part of Nike) in selling branded sunglasses, trainers, jeans and t-shirts and other, as yet, undisclosed products. They are being aimed at so-called "conscience consumers" and may be attractive as they will be produced in Africa. This is being called a "virtuous brand" though some are worried that the big corporations involved are merely seeking to increase their profits by association with such a cause.

Mocking Bono is easy, too easy, as is attacking his politics and his economics. True, he is so eager to preach his message that it can become boring and many would prefer him to just shut up and sing. His armchair detractors also dislike the people he hangs out with in the worlds of politics and big business and suspect he is being treated as a useful idiot for endorsement photo-shoots. The deeply cynical imply that Bono's ego is the real driving force behind his actions.

All or some of which may be true. But two things stand out. One is that Bono has committed an enormous amount of time and energy to his beliefs that he need not have given and that he believes in something rather than merely criticising everything or taking no interest at all. The second is that he is a rock star mature enough to realise that he cannot overthrow the capitalist system – or believe that any alternative is necessarily better – so he might as well use it as he can to achieve his goals.

Product Red may be smart or it may be dumb but at least it is an effort. It may fail in that people will reject the concept or the products or, more likely, the brand itself, brands being notoriously tricky things to establish in the consumer consciousness.

It might work though and if it does it may succeed in raising hundreds of millions of dollars for fighting AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa. If it does the people of the continent might be somewhat less dependent on the generosity of people like Bill Gates of Microsoft or the work of aid agencies from Ireland and other countries, while Bono can continue with his parallel efforts to encourage more equitable global trade and debt reduction.

Ireland itself has moved on from Self-Aid, with Bono and U2 playing a vital part in increasing the confidence of the country and the ability of its people to look outwards and take chances. Some people learn along the way by their mistakes, through experience, by stretching themselves to do something new, something different and by risking failure. Professionally and personally Bono has expanded and while his activities are not exempt from critical appraisal they should not be denied praise when they are deserving of it just because he is a wealthy rock-star with loads of money and an ego.

Others, unfortunately, deploy their undoubted talents in a self-satisfied, self-amused and ultimately worthless way. And after all, 1percent is better than 0 percent.