UNHATE: Benetton’s Return to Form
Last year we steered our gaze towards one of the greatest and most creative publicity partnerships of all time, Oliviero Toscani‘s “near-two-decade marriage (1982-2000) with clothing brand United Colors of Benetton.” We published a profound selection of Toscani’s work for Benetton including brutal images touching on issues of AIDs, racism, conflict, eating disorders, religion and capital punishment. The final “Death Row” campaign spurred such controversy that the creative partnership finally broke, with Toscani and Benetton parting ways. Since then Toscani’s work has paled in comparison and the clothing brand’s campaigns have lacked the impact (both creatively and sales-wise) of those prior decades. That is until now, at least creatively-speaking.
See Oliviero Toscani and Benetton’s creative marriage here.
Benetton’s new “UNHATE” campaign is certainly causing ripples for it’s controversial use of expertly photoshopped images of world leaders, both of nations and religions, smooching! Benetton say they are “spending less than €10 million ($13.5 million) on the new campaign”(WSJ) in which, for those political fetishists out there, you can see President Obama kissing Chinese leader Hu Jianto, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il kissing President of South Korea Lee Myung-bak, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, Israel’s Netanyahu kissing Palistinian President Abbas, German Chancellor Merkel kissing French President Sarkozy, and Pope Benedict XVI kissing Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb.
Alongside the campaign, Benetton has set up the UNHATE Foundation. Which:
“seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture of tolerance, to combat hatred, building on Benetton’s underpinning values. It is another important step in the group’s social responsibility strategy: not a cosmetic exercise, but a contribution that will have a real impact on the international community, especially through the vehicle of communication, which can reach social players in different areas. The Foundation will organise initiatives involving different stakeholders, from the new generations to the institutions, international organisations and NGOs, through to civil society. The Foundation also aims to be a think tank, attracting personalities and talents from the fields of culture, economy, law and politics, and people who have gone from simple citizens to leaders of movements, distinguishing themselves through their ideas and actions against the causes and effects of hatred.
It seems Benetton are trying to promote consciousness of the divisive behavior of leaders so that people can indeed reflect on prejudice and discrimination. And yet naturally the campaign has been subject of attacks claiming that it is purely shock value and increased sales that the brand is interested in. The Pope image has been removed from their campaign after a strong reaction from the Vatican, with spokesman Federico Lombardi fuming, “This is a grave lack of respect for the Pope.” He continued:
“We cannot but express a resolute protest at the entirely unacceptable use of a manipulated image of the Holy Father, used as part of a publicity campaign which has commercial ends.”
While there is no legal action being taken, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said,
“The White House has a long-standing policy disapproving of the use of the president’s name and likeness for commercial purposes,”
We at Urban Times think this is a fascinating return to form for Benetton. The images are eye-catching, surprise-inducing and thought-provoking, a testament to freedom of speech and artistry. UNHATE has undoubtedly put the Benetton brand back on the map, but whether or not the campaign will lead to an increase in sales has yet to be seen.
N.B. All Images were Sourced from the Benetton UNHATE Website.
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