I recently stumbled upon these ads by an American company
named “United Colors of Benetton”.
According to Benetton the ads are “symbolic images of
reconciliation - with a touch of ironic hope and constructive provocation - to
stimulate reflection on how politics, faith and ideas, even when they are divergent
and mutually opposed, must still lead to dialogue and mediation."
So what is Benetton? Not being from the US, I had no idea
and the ads, while they are certainly attention grabbing, don’t really tell you
much. It seemed to me like a campaign that would be run by an organisation like
Amnesty International or Greenpeace. With that being my line of thought, I was
rather stunned when the Benetton website loaded and I discovered what they
sell: clothing.
A bit of research revealed Benetton have a history of
relying on this odd advertising technique of presenting shocking images sans
anything relevant to their actual products.
The ads form part of a campaign for the unhate foundation launched by Benetton which claims to have a presence in the international community with the aim of spreading a message of tolerance, hope and peace. All of the ads bear Benetton's logo but many do not bear the unhate logo. Whether you like it or not, the tactic certainly garners
attention and, when their ads hit the news, millions of dollars’ worth of free
advertising. They even scored some attention from the Vatican:
"We
must express the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the
image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in a publicity campaign
with commercial ends," he said. "This shows a grave lack of respect
for the Pope, an offence to the feelings of believers, a clear demonstration of
how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people by attracting
attention with provocation."
Not a particularly positive shout out from the Pope, but
in advertising that hardly seems to matter.
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