Benetton
source: This case was prepared by Ilkka A. Ronkainen. It is largely based on “Heart-to-Heart (to Heart),” Advertising Age, March 18, 1996, 4; “Benetton: The Next Era,” Economist, April 23, 1994, 68; “Benetton on Bosnia,” The Washington Post, February 16, 1994, C3; “Benettonin Shokkimainosta Paheksutaan,” Iltasanomat, February 4, 1992, A14; Eleana Bowes, “Benetton Forges Ahead,” Advertising Age, September 9, 1991, 14; and Gary Levin, “Benetton Gets the Kiss-Off,” Advertising Age, July 22, 1991, 1, 40. For a gallery of Benetton ads, see.
Benetton, the Italian manufacturer of sportswear, has been in the center of controversy ever since its “United Colors” campaigns were launched in 1985 to symbolize the marketer’s “commitment to racial and multicultural harmony.”
Benetton has 6,300 stores around the world and sales of $1.5 billion, with a total marketing budget of $78 million. It has been one of the most dynamic marketing entities of the last decade. But it has been the company’s advertising that has cemented its reputation as an offbeat, socially conscious firm.
In the fall of 1991, Benetton launched a new series of ads, created in-house, which included a priest kissing a nun; a placenta-covered newborn baby with an umbilical cord still attached; and what the company calls an “angelic” white girl and a “dark and mysterious” black boy, replete with devilish horns. The campaign was intended for 92 countries to constitute the majority of countries’ promotional efforts. For example, the $3.5 million U.S. magazine campaign represented half of Benetton’s local budget. “It’s fair to say that this is the most provocative campaign we have ever mounted,” said Peter Fressola, director of communications for Benetton Services Corp., the company’s U.S. marketing arm. “The images are more provocative, and there seem to be more of them.”
Although previous campaigns showing black and white men handcuffed together and a black woman breast-feeding a white baby had generated publicity, the storm broke with the most recent series of ads.
After the effort was launched, various governmental and industry bodies in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Ireland asked Benetton to withdraw the campaign. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) formally asked Benetton to stop using outdoor boards showing the
newborn.
In the United States, magazine publishers refused to run some or all of the campaign. Self and YM rejected the priest/nun combo; Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Child all passed on the newborn ad; and Essence, YM, and Child passed on the angel/devil ad. “We rejected the ads because being a book geared to the younger market, I think the spotlight is put on us a little more than the adult books,” said Alex Mironovich, publisher of teen magazine YM. “I am Catholic and I was not offended by the priest kissing the nun, but I have to recognize that religion is very powerful in a lot of people’s lives.”
In the letter rejecting the newborn ad, Mary Anne Sommers, publisher of Child, wrote, “Birth is still an extremely private and personal subject for Americans ... and there was a strong likelihood the ad would not be favorably received by a good portion of our readers.” She also rejected the angel/devil ad, contending the image “will be perceived by our readers as reinforcing, rather than helping to eliminate, negative racial stereotypes.” Benetton and its agency, J. Walter Thompson, offered two ads to each magazine but said if one or both were rejected, they would not be replaced by others.
At Benetton, the response was that of surprise. “We were very surprised by this general hysteria created by the new campaign,” said Laura Pollini, Benetton’s spokesperson in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Peter Fressola denied that there was any attempt to stir trouble. The creator of the ads, Oliviero Toscani, was astonished by the reaction to the campaign. The newborn ad is a documentary-style bit of “ultra-reality,” he said, and there is “nothing sinful” about a priest and a nun kissing. “I take pictures, I don’t sell clothes.” Benetton expressed its confidence in Toscani and vowed not to interfere with his provocative style.
In 1992, Benetton used a picture of a man who had three minutes earlier died of AIDS in its newest worldwide campaign. The ASA recommended that publishers in the United Kingdom boycott the campaign. In early 1994, Benetton made waves throughout the world with its new ad featuring the blood-soaked clothes of a soldier killed in Bosnia. The photo, which shows a white T-shirt pierced by a bullet hole, as well as a pair of combat trousers, is part of a $15 million campaign in newspapers and on billboards in 110 countries. Immediately, five publications in France, including Le Monde and Le Figaro, and Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung refused to publish the ad. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano denounced the ad, calling it “a horrendous poster that has managed to make a mockery even of death.” In the United States, many newspapers, such as The Washington Post, ran the ad. Benetton’s reaction was as unique as expected. The company spokesperson was not optimistic about the campaign’s ability to boost retail sales, saying, however, “if we were trying to sell T-shirts, there probably wouldn’t be a worse way of doing it.”
In 1996, Benetton launched a campaign created in-house that featured three hearts. At the same time, the company launched its own web site ( com), offering a review of its past campaigns and a sneak preview of its upcoming global campaign.1 The campaign prompted the ASA to issue an immediate Ad Alert, urging newspapers and magazines to contact it for advice before accepting the ad. The advice would depend on the publication’s target audience.
More controversy erupted with Benetton’s 2000 advertising campaign, which featured prisoners on death row. The ASA received 144 complaints about the ads, and Sears, Roebuck banned sales of Benetton USA apparel in reaction to the advertisement.
Questions For discussion
1. Do shock and publicity value fit in with global advertising campaigns?
2. Is Benetton facing a crisis in various country markets, or will it benefit from the outcry?
3. Are there ways in which the social message of Benetton could be conveyed in a less-provocative manner?
1For additional information, see .