Ethical shopping: The Red Revolution

Consumer conscience goes mainstream.
BB

Irish rock star Bono has persuaded some of the world's biggest companies to back his new weapon in the fight against poverty: a consumer brand with a conscience. Cahal Milmo reports
From John Paul II to George W Bush, few have escaped Bono's campaign to charm and bully the world's powerbrokers into lending their support to his fight against global poverty and disease. Such has been the success of the Irish rock star's assault on A-list opinion-formers, ranging from Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, to the billionaire currency dealer George Soros, that he was touted last year as a serious candidate for the presidency of the World Bank.

But now the U2 frontman with a taste for wrap-around shades, turned voice of global conscience, set his sights on an altogether more intractable constituency, the developed world's hard-boiled, price-conscious consumers and the conglomerates that seek their cash.