News of dismisal performance of Bono’s RED campaign haven’t stopped Vanity Fair inviting the U2 front man to be the guest edior of the July issue. His editorial mission to try and ‘rebrand’ Africa. On the basis of these facts Bono could do with focusing more on the substance of his mission and less on style, logos and marketing.

* In the year since it was founded, his Red campaign (licensed to Gap, Motorola, Apple etc)
has raised $18 million - but companies have spent $100 million to market it.

* Bono doesn’t invest his own money in Red.

* Apple sells a Special Edition U2 iPod. Its profits are not donated to Red.

* U2 made $389m from the recent Vertigo tour. Its revenue was then funnelled through
companies mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimize taxes.

* U2 moved its music publishing company to the Netherlands from Ireland in June 2006, six
months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians’ royalty income.

* Richard Murphy, adviser to lobbying group the Tax Justice Network, says “This is somebody who’s exceptionally rich taking the opportunity to shift his tax burden to somebody else, but
then asking governments around the world to spend that tax take in the way that he would like.”

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