Benetton Raising Consciousness and Controversy with Global Advertising

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What’s YOUR personal reaction? • Sexy • Offensive • Contrasting On the occasion the 8 th Global AIDS Day, MTV Europe and MTV Asia were provided with a special broadcast package of AIDSrelated spots realised by Benetton in the course of the years: the Colorful Condoms, the Five Condom Olympic Circles, the Condoms on Footballs, the AIDS Faces, and the HIV Positive Arm. • What’s next…. • Contemplative • Bold, in-your-face • Wearing political views • Inappropriate for the US • Love the ads but not to sell clothes HIV Positive, 1993

Who is Benetton? • Founded in 1965 in Italy by 4 siblings in Benetton family • Operations in 120+ countries • Clothing manufacturer: UCB, Sisley, Play. Life, 012 • Sports Equipment: Nordica, Rollerblade, Prince • Accessories: Killer. Loop, Colors • Listed on Milan, Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges • CEO: Luciano Benetton 1993

Sincerity or Exploitation? Sincerity: • Not making money from promoting these issues • Stuck with it in face of opposition • Raise issues no one else will • Co-operation with aid agencies, UN, health ministries Exploitation: Did you know 52 million children are currently working around the world. • Using social issue to their own economic advantage By child we mean an individual under the age of 12. • Emotional blackmail By work we mean 8 to 12 hours of labor in a day. Child Labor, 1992

No such thing as “bad” publicity? Agree: • Raises brand/company awareness • Long-term brand recall • Free advertising The peace agreement between Arabs and Israelis, symbolised by the 1993 handshake between Arafat and Rabin, was quickly hailed by Benetton. In leading European newspapers, the Group republished the photograph used in a 1985 campaign of an Israeli and Arab youth, their arms around each other in friendship. Disagree: • Boycotting • Losing distributors and customers • One bit of bad news can destroy years of good work • Gives competitors something to talk about David Kirby, 1992

Advice for Benetton • Continue with advocacy advertising • International marketing communication • Tone it down a bit In Uruguay, Benetton produced an informative kit based on their worldwide activities in the field of AIDS prevention. This was distributed in the course of 105 conferences on AIDS, organized by the National Health Institute. • Levitt: standardization or localization Condoms, 1995

Benetton today…advertising The UN's invitation to participate in a joint communications exercise is a striking endorsement of the value and quality of Benetton's communications programs. 1997: Benetton creates the official image of FAO’s World Food Summit 2001: “Volunteers in Color” highlighted UN volunteers around the world. 1998: 50 th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

Benetton today…the bottom line • Revenues: 2001 € 2. 098 b; 2002 E € 2. 135 b • Growth by megastores • Oliviero Toscana resigned in 2001 • Toned down advertising without compromising integrity • Still promoting Colors magazine The Benetton family in strait-jackets - a symbolic straitjacket that has come to represent the kind of creative madness that, in the space of little more than thirty years, has given birth to a global industrial group and to one of the most famous brand names in the world. • Fabrica – communication r&d center • Awareness not advocacy Volunteers in Colors, 2001