Product Red Comes to a Head

And there goes another week of reporting.

This week was full of a lot of success, but also a lot of failure. I have realized the extent to which PR people are trained to deal with journalists that are looking for any real insight. Having emailed Gap Inc., Global Fund, and RED North America, I was given a lot of press releases and statistics, but none of it was really anything I couldn’t have found for myself on the internet. I am beginning to think I hit a brick wall of jargon. Each of the emails informed me that if I had any other questions they would be happy to converse with me, but very few are willing to have any form of open dialogue about the problems Product Red may face. Granted they are just doing their job, I’m beginning to realize the challenges faced with journalists trying to do any sort of investigative journalism. I have the voice of both sides, those that are pro-Red, and those that are anti (buylesscrap.com) but they both have their own agendas.

Having only been granted one interview so far I am also beginning to stress that most of my script is going to come from articles that have already been done on the Product Red campaign. Though these are all fabulous, and very informative articles, my piece is beginning to read more like an essay than a feature. I’m going to have to put my journalistic shoes on and get out to the people. At this point in the game I think what I really need to do is talk to consumers and see how they feel about the Red products. I don’t know anyone myself who has purchased any of the items, so maybe hanging out in front of a Gap store, or a Motorola stand is going to be my only hope.

I did get a great interview with Professor Stephen Muzzatti however, and his insights were exactly what I needed to push my story in the right direction. He spoke very passionately about the problems with a campaign like this, and how selfish these big corporations really are. I have yet to edit the file, but I know it is going to be a large part of my final piece.

All in all I am still learning a lot and finding new avenues to talk about as I come across more articles, and opinions on the topic. Though my piece isn’t as far along as I’d like it to be, I’m still really looking forward to the finished product.