SCIENTIA

2005

Journal of the Honors Program

About the Author Sally Christine Mannion is receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Advertising and Public Relations, and she will be attending Purdue University next fall to pursue her master’s degree. Sally is currently the Editor-in-Chief for the campus newspaper, The Wood Word. She is also president of Marywood’s chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America and Lambda Pi Eta, the national communications honor society. Sally was motivated to pursue a Citation in Honors in order to enrich her overall undergraduate experience. The aspect she enjoyed most was the in-depth class discussions that the small, seminar style classes afforded. Sally would like to thank her parents for their unconditional love and support; her advisor, Dr. Paulette Merchel, who helped create direction out of mere ideas; and her readers, Dr. John Zaums, who is an inspiration both in the classroom and in life, and Dr. Gale Jaeger, whose enthusiasm about business pushed her to strive harder. She would also like to thank her fiancé Anthony, who saw her potential and was nothing but encouraging, especially when things seemed overwhelming. Finally, she dedicates her thesis to Jay Hammeran, in loving memory.

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The Anti-Advertising Campaign:The Social Significance of Promotion through Unconventional Avenues

Sally Mannion

Introduction

Each day we are confronted with nearly 5,000 advertisements, many of which are

trying to convince us that we must look a certain way, or own a certain product in order

to be truly happy (Grace 46). Through the years, the public has become desensitized to

conventional methods of advertising, so as new advertisements are developed the

competition is not only a growing market of products and services, but also fellow

advertisers. This competition has directed advertising into a genre different from

conventional advertising. Advertisements today are forced to constantly be innovative

and memorable. Within the last 15 years, companies have even gone as far as removing

the product that is being promoted entirely from the ad. The United Colors of Benetton,

in 1989, is the first company to have been documented as executing this form of

promotion for their products (Tinic 5). Such advertising, which this researcher labels as

“anti-advertising,” goes against all conventional definitions of what advertising typically

has encompassed in the past. This research examines the social significance of specific

forms of anti-advertising, especially in the advertising strategies of the United Colors of

Benetton, which substitutes images of their products with social topics in order to raise

awareness on specific current issues in society. This paper first explains the history and

characteristics of conventional advertising in order to provide a contrast to anti-

advertising. This paper goes on to further explain corporate social responsibility and the

roles that advertising plays in society in order reinforce the importance of socially

responsible anti-advertising, and more specifically the anti-advertising campaigns of The

United Colors of Benetton.

The History of Advertising

Different forms of advertising have been prevalent in commerce since the

beginnings of trade. The oldest known written advertisement in history is a 3,000-year-

old Babylonian document that requests the return of a slave. The invention of printing by

movable type developed an innovative era of advertising, and by the middle of the

seventeenth century, newspapers in Great Britain adopted advertising as an essential

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element of their publications (O’Sullivan). The first documented newspaper

advertisement in the United States was in a 1704 in the Boston Newsletter for the capture

of a thief (Lee 13), and in 1843, Volney Palmer opened the first advertising agency in

Philadelphia (Advertising Age). The birth of advertising began merely as a classified

style arrangement of words that was promoted within print media (Wells 20). These

advertisements focused primarily on informing the public about the availability of a

certain product. This period is generally referred to as the pre-advertising era (Falk 65).

The next stage of advertising is known as “early advertising” and grew in

importance due to the multitude of developments during the industrial revolution. During

this period, the purpose of advertising was to devise an efficient communication system

that would allow businesses to sell to a vast audience. Modern advertising was

developed during the second half of the nineteenth century. Advertisements during this

time were mainly concerned with stimulating a demand for a product or service, in order

to sell as much as possible rather than just informing potential consumers about a product

or service (Falk 65). Advertising grew to a $500 million industry, which led to the

development of agencies that focused their entire attention on the advertising process.

During the early 1970s, the “accountability era” began. Clients wanted advertisements

that showed immediate financial results. Beginning in the 1990s the advertising world

began to understand that global business was vital to the future of how things were

marketed (Lee 14).

The Fundamentals of Advertising

There are many different components that encompass the entirety of the term

“advertising.” A single advertisement in today’s society undergoes vast amounts of

research and development in order to determine specific target markets, potential

consumer reactions, and other information that would be beneficial to the advertiser. The

Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines advertising as “emphasizing desirable

qualities so as to arouse a desire to buy or patronize” (Merriam). But advertising is a

multi-faceted entity, so an appropriately more complex definition has six components:

1) Advertising is a paid form of communication. Media messages that are not paid

for are known as publicity or public service announcements.

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2) In order for communication to be labeled as advertising, a sponsor must be

identified.

3) Most advertising tends to influence the consumer to take action or at least make

them aware of a product or service.

4) Advertising states that the advertisement must be channeled through different

forms of mass communication. Advertising can be expressed through many

different types of media such as print, television, radio, the Internet and outdoor

billboards or transit signs. The wide array of media allows for advertisers to tailor

their campaigns in order to reach specific markets.

5) Advertising reaches a vast audience.

6) Advertising is not a personal form of communication (Wells 10).

The purpose of conventional advertising is to supply product and brand

information, provide support and reminders, and create incentives so that consumers will

take action (Lee 3). This is also known as AIDA: awareness, interest, desire and action

(Lamb 477-8). In order for an advertisement to be effective it must show strategy,

creativity, and be well executed. The strategy aspect of an effective advertising

campaign is comprised of meeting specific goals, developing and directing

advertisements to meet the needs of a specific target audience, and facilitating the media

in which the message will reach its audience most effectively (Lee 119). The creative

concept is the memorable and attention grabbing theme of the advertisement. The

research efforts and placing of advertisements must be imaginative. In order for an

advertisement to be well executed, all aspects of the advertisement campaign must be

fine-tuned. The approach is central is the desired target market is to be reached, or more

basically put: the way something is said is just as important as what is said. What is said

comes from strategy, while how you say it is a product of creativity and execution (Bergh

252-3). Effective advertising must satisfy consumers’ needs by delivering a message that

fulfills their individual desires. These desires range from those of people who will see

advertisements and express an immediate need or want for a product or service, or those

of people who see advertisements purely for entertainment purposes. Advertisements are

not lost entirely on many consumers, because they can often recall the advertisement in

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the future if they happen to need that particular product or service. Effective advertising

must satisfy not only the consumers’ desires, but also the clients’. Clients want to keep

consumers buying the goods and services through advertisements that will not only catch

the attention of advertisers, but also hold their interest long enough in order to convince

them to buy a certain product or service. The long-term desire would be to have the

consumer become a life-long customer, thus creating a relationship between brand and

consumers (Wells 6).

Types of Advertising

Advertising has evolved very quickly within the last century, and, because of this,

there is a variety of different types of advertisements in today’s marketplace. Celebrity

endorsements is a particular type of advertising in which a celebrity or public official

promotes a product or service. Consumers often admire celebrities and public officials,

attracting them to the product being endorsed. In some cases the admiration is for

unjustifiable reasons (Wells 12). Jessica Simpson, a pop music star, endorses Pro-Active

face care products. She seems to have great skin, so people may believe that it is due to

the product and they will then go out to purchase the product. There is no way to truly

know whether or not the product will even work for the purchaser, or to even tell if the

celebrity is telling the truth.

Demonstrative advertising is another form of advertising. These types of

advertisements show a person using the item that the advertisement is promoting. An

example of this would be most laundry detergent commercials. Again there can be

problems with this form of advertising since we do not truly know if the product that is

being washed is the original with the stain, or even if new technology was used in order

to edit the stains (Lee 146).

Comparative advertising shows how one product or service stands up to a similar

product, such as the Pepsi versus Coca-Cola advertisements (Lamb 497). Brand

advertising focuses on the development of a long-term brand identity and image. Local

advertising promotes products within a specific region, while political advertising

attempts to influence voters to side with their ideas. When it comes to directory

advertising, people specifically are looking through a directory for a product or service

they need, such as the business pages of the telephone book (Wells 12). Business to

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business advertisements are not for general consumers, and are specifically targeted

toward retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and other business related industries (Lee 248-

9). Institutional advertising focuses mainly on establishing corporate identity and good

will, and public service advertising communicates a message on behalf of a specific

cause. Interactive advertising is delivered to individual consumers who have access to a

computer and the Internet (Wells 12). No matter what type of advertising utilized, it is

important that it illustrates creative strategies and executions in order to be effective for

both the consumer and the client.

Now that background on advertising and where it was derived have been

provided, this paper will continue to explore the evolution of conventional advertising

into the types of anti-advertising practiced today, and the role it plays in society.

Roles Advertising Plays In Society

There are many active roles that advertising plays in society. Advertising creates a

demand for the production of more efficient and reliable products, limits price increases,

encourages competition and supports freedom of the press. Although advertising can be

considered as ethically damaging to society, the Federal Trade Commission (a media

regulatory organization) stated that 97% of advertisements are not misused (O’Sullivan).

It is the responsibility of both consumers and advertisers to make certain that advertising

is being used in the most responsible manner possible. According to Jeremiah

O’Sullivan, a writer for the Council for Research in Values and Responsibility:

Most advertisers claim today to maintain high ethical standards and sociallyresponsible advertising practices, but the sins of the past haunt them. Still, thepressures to make a strong and innovative impression are so intense that thetemptation to strain limits of good taste and even morality often becomes toostrong to resist. Ethical considerations tend to be an afterthought in the planningof most advertising campaigns. Previously free of formal restrictions, advertisingis now a heavily regulated profession, due to earlier excesses and shortcomings.Consumer groups, especially interest groups and government, can review, check,control and change advertising. In the United States, federal regulation ofadvertising imposes strict controls on advertisers through law (O’Sullivan).

Advertising is a very visible form of communication that deals creatively with

consumer and business needs. Just as in any other business, these needs must be met in

ways that meet government regulations. The social role that advertisements play is very

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visible in the public eye (Bergh 72). This visibility makes advertisements perfect

candidates for criticism, and many people are quick to state their opinions of advertising

as being “unethical.” Arguments that support this way of thinking state that advertising

is untruthful, devious, targets the vulnerable, and that it raises the prices of products.

Although there are a few regulatory government agencies that deal with advertising,

many times it is the role of advertisers to make conscious decisions whether or not to

follow ethical standards, and conduct the research in order to back up their decision.

Information should always be truthful in order to prevent liability issues, and if not for

legal reasons, then for moral and ethical reasons. Many times there is a fine line in

distinguishing what is ethical and what is not. A solution to this would be to have

consumers report on their perceptions of what they deem is ethical (Wells 31).

One way the advertising industry supports socially responsible advertising is

through the private, nonprofit organization of volunteers who make up the Advertising

Council. The Advertising Council is responsible for overseeing socially responsible

campaigns conducted on behalf of nonprofit organizations (Wells 33). The mission of

the Advertising Council is to “identify a select number of significant public issues and

stimulate action on those issues through communications programs that make a

measurable difference in our society” (cited in Bergh 72). The campaigns are created by

advertising agencies at no cost and are placed in various media for little or not cost. This

is also known as pro bono advertising (Bergh 72).

Corporate Social Responsibility

Ethics and social responsibility are closely intertwined when it comes to corporate

social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is a business’ concern for society’s

welfare. This concern is developed by people at the company who consider both the best

interests of the company and the company’s relationship to the society in which it

operates. One theorist suggests that total corporate social responsibility has four

components: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. The pyramid of corporate social

responsibility portrays economic performance as the bottom link of the pyramid (Lamb

82). This serves as a foundation for three other responsibilities. If there were no

economic finances available, it would be impossible for a company to stay in business.

The second tier of the pyramid deals with legal issues. Businesses are obligated to follow

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the laws set by the industry in which they operate. The next tier in the pyramid of social

responsibility deals with ethical concerns. It is the responsibility of the company to act in

a socially responsible and fair manner. Once these levels of social responsibility are

attained, the company is more apt to operate and to be viewed as an ethically and socially

responsibly entity. These separate tiers are very different, but when they work together

they work to form a good corporate citizen. For example, Fetzer Vineyards of California

has eliminated 91 percent of its waste since 1991 while sales have doubled. The winery

grows grapes organically, relying on natural pest control. (Lamb 83) Being a good

corporate citizen does not always guarantee increased profits for the organization. There

are many factors that contribute to whether or not people will be accepting and will

purchase from a socially responsibly company. These include the particular issue, the

role of social responsibility in that target market, and the product or service quality.

(Bergh 72-3)

Cause marketing is fairly new concept in which companies use sponsorships in

order to enhance their corporate image among either the general public or special

audiences (Bergh 390). This can be traced back to 1974 and the beginning of the Ronald

McDonald House Charities. Since the 1980s, large companies like Pizza Hut and Home

Depot also launched benefit charities (Lamb 350). Target even donates 5 percent of their

pre-tax profits to charities (Lamb 82). Isaac Mizrahi, DKNY, Marc Jacob developed

voting themed creations for the 2004 election, and Kenneth Cole’s recent “Are you

putting us on?” campaign informed consumers that gun control, gay rights, censorship

and gender equality are all extremely important issues that we must become more

consciously aware of. British Designer Katharine Hamnett tackled the AIDS epidemic in

Africa by featuring Naomi Campbell on the runway, strutting in a bathing suit with “Use

a condom” spelled out in crystals (George 64). This trend might seem like a great case of

corporate responsibility that has spread all over, but it also has to do with the fact that

today’s consumers have become very concerned with issues and have been demanding

that corporations give back to society (Lamb 350). According to a joint study by branding

and communications firm Cone and research firm Roper Starch Worldwide, nearly 67%

of Americans now say cause marketing should be a standard business practice. Roughly

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the same percentage agree that, all else being equal, they would be likely to switch brands

or retailers to those associated with a good cause (Lamb 359).

Anti-Advertising

We have reached the postmodern era of advertising, and traditional forms of

advertising have disappeared almost entirely. Anti-advertising would be considered as a

branch of postmodern advertisements. In 1996, Time Magazine named a Nissan

advertisement as the best commercial of the year. The advertisement contained upbeat

music, dolls, dogs, and stated, “Enjoy the ride.” The important thing missing from the

advertisements was the actual Nissan car. Nissan spent $330 million on the campaign,

but the advertisement did not sell any cars, and Nissan’s US sales declined steadily

during the first six months of the campaign. (Wells 5) Another example of anti-

advertising is when Budweiser spent $2.4 million dollars on an advertisement during the

Super Bowl to say “Thank you” to troops in Iraq. Generally, Super Bowl beer

advertisements feature scantily clad women promoting the actual beer. This further

shows that social responsibility and corporate image is inundating all aspects of

marketing.

In the fashion industry, the products (clothes in this case) have also disappeared

from some of its advertising, thus making it anti-advertising, but not necessarily of the

socially responsible form. Nike’s advertisements for sports bras has taken the “Just do it”

slogan to a whole new level with advertisements showing nothing but breasts, some

covered with hands, and others that were completely bare (Lamb 510). A campaign for

Versace, which even appeared in Time Magazine, displays a young woman lying on a bed

with her hand poised on her upper thigh. She is wearing little more than a black

suspender belt and stockings. The advertisement is not quite clear about what product it

is trying to sell, but there is no doubt that sex appeal is the motivating theme of the

advertisement. In 1980, a 15-year-old Brooke Shields stated the infamous line “nothing

comes between me and my Calvin’s.” These advertisements also featured her stating that

if her jeans could talk, she would be in trouble. Shortly after the campaign began,

400,000 pairs of Calvin Klein jeans were sold (“Selling…” 10). Columnist Kevin Grace

summarized the situation when he wrote, “There is so much sensory overload that most

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advertisements are ignored. The challenge of advertisers is to be noticed at all. And the

best way to do this is to shock” (Grace 46).

Sex has become more explicit in advertisements due to the fact that it has become

more openly displayed in the media. You can turn on the news on any given night and

hear references to sex and violence (Lloyd 13). These sex-based advertisements are

specifically tailored to appeal to specific social classes or to a specific gender. The

advertisements are then communicated through different media in hopes of reaching the

target market. Advertisers hope that the consumer will associate the feelings that they

experience during the viewing of the sex-based advertisement to the product, and if they

happen to be shopping for that particular type of product in the future, those feelings

would return. Advertisers use sex to sell products in order to appeal to the desires of

consumers who buy the product or view the ad. Interestingly, these sexual campaigns

that are comprised of nearly nude prepubescents modeling “clothes” are generally more

tolerable to audiences than Budweiser’s “thank you” commercial or when The United

Colors of Benetton uses graphic images in order to bring social concerns to the forefront

of the minds of millions of people. Instead, people claim that companies like Benetton

and Budweiser are doing horrible injustices to society by exploiting these social issues

(Tinic 4).

The History of Benetton

During the final stages of World War I, Leone Benetton ran a bicycle business in

Treviso, Italy. He sent his oldest son, Luciano Benetton, to medical school in order to

become a successful doctor, but after Leone died financial troubles plagued the family.

Luciano left school in order to find work to help out his family. His first job in a local

clothing store was short lived due to the fact that he had his own desire to produce

clothing. He involved his entire family in making colorful sweaters (Mantle 7). His

sister, Guiliana, was an experienced knitter and was in charge of the design department.

Their brothers Gilberto and Carlo managed and handled the finances of the company

(Ganesan 53). In 1965, Luciano Benetton and three siblings established Fratelli Benetton,

which translates to “Benetton brothers,” near Treviso, Italy (Giroux 6). In 1969, the

company expanded internationally and opened a similar store in Paris. Instead of

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creating a network of exclusive distributors, they chose to create a network of distributors

and also incorporate sub-contractors into their business plan (Ganesan 53).

The business eventually expanded into an assortment of personal apparel and later

developed into a two billion dollar fashion empire producing eighty million pieces of

clothing a year for seven thousand franchise stores in over one hundred countries.

(Giroux 6) The company is listed in Milan, London, Frankfurt, New York, Toronto, and

Tokyo stock exchanges, and is one of the strongest brands in the world (Ganesan 54).

As stated in the Spring-Summer 1992 advertising campaign copy, “All over the world

Benetton stands for colorful sportswear, multiculturalism, world peace, racial harmony,

and now, a progressive approach toward serious social issues” (cited in Giroux 6).

Although Benetton had stores located throughout the world, the advertising campaigns

were initially limited to Italy and France (Tinic 5). This changed in the early 1980s when

Benetton hired Oliviero Toscani, a prominent fashion photographer, to head the

advertising department of the company (Ganesan 54).

Originally, Toscani focused on culturally diverse young people dressed in

Benetton clothing while happily frolicking within the page limitations of the ads. Henry

Giroux explains the theme further by stating, “Linking the colors of Benetton clothes to

the diverse ‘colors’ of the customers from all over the world, Toscani attempted to use

the themes of racial harmony and world peace to register such differences within a wider

unifying articulation.” The name, “The United Colors of Benetton” became the

trademark of the Benetton ideology in 1985 (Giroux 6). In 1991, The United Colors of

Benetton established Colors, a magazine based on the idea that individualism among

cultures should be cherished, and their differences valued equally; Benetton calls it “the

magazine about the rest of the world” (Benetton). The magazine is published four times

a year, and each issue represents a different social issue. Benetton’s website states,

“Over the years Colors has become a unique point of reference in the global publishing

world. It has stirred public attention to topics and themes originating in areas of the world

that other publications seldom write about with depth and freshness” (Benetton).

The Benetton Approach to Advertising

Benetton’s method of advertising has played a vital role in the world of fashion,

because their socially responsible approach has attempted to intertwine the company’s

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image within a broader set of social and political concerns (Giroux 5). Benetton has

always been an innovative company. In the early development stages of the company,

Benetton developed a method of dying sweaters after the assembly process so that

individual stores could restock faster with colors that consumers responded favorably

toward (“The Other…” 61). This innovativeness was also present in the way the

company promoted its products. Benetton, both previously and currently, goes to great

lengths in order to present itself as a globally conscious and responsible organization, by

discussing moral issues and supporting social causes (Ganesan 56). During the 1980s and

early 1990s, Benetton took their support of social justice one step further and embraced a

new marketing mixture of advertising and journalism, often referred to as

photojournalism (O’Leary). A statement from Toscani that was released during this time

stated, “I am not here to sell pullovers, but to promote an image. Benetton’s advertising

draws public attention to universal themes like racial integration, the protection of the

environment, Aids” (cited in Ganesan 53). Benetton also stated, “Various studies have

shown that in 1992 consumers are as concerned by what a company stands for as they are

about the price/value relationship of that company’s product” (cited Tinic 21).

In 1989, Toscani began researching and developing the infamous campaign that

removed Benetton clothing from its advertising. He used the $80 million dollar

advertising budget to display controversial photographs in various forms of print media,

but mostly through magazines and outdoor billboards (Giroux 6). According to Tinic,

Toscani’s decision to completely remove the product from the advertisements most likely

stems directly from his beliefs about the problems of contemporary advertising. Toscani

claims:

The advertising industry has corrupted society. It persuades people that they arerespected for what they consume, that they are only worth what they possess. Ourstrategy of advertising is to ‘communicate’ to consumers rather than to sell tothem. All over the world Benetton stands for multi-culturalism, world peace,racial harmony, a progressive approach toward serious social issues and colorfulsportswear (cited in Tinic 9).

Although this may seem like an unusual method to generate profits for the

clothing company, Toscani’s efforts were thoroughly researched prior to the execution of

the campaign. According to Benetton, “Polls indicated that our target customers are

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more socially active and aware than any generation that precedes them” (Tinic 21). The

change in the advertising campaign from displays of harmonious people of different

nations to controversial photojournalistic images illustrates an attempt by Benetton to

make over its corporate image. Giroux stated, “In order to define itself as a company

concerned with social change, Benetton suspended use of upscale representations in its

mass advertising campaign” (Giroux 8).

Gradually, the motivation of the company switched from selling an image to

selling corporate social responsibility. Even though the company has a desire to inform

the public about its point of view, as stated earlier, if a company does not have the

capital, they will not have the money to fund these socially thought provoking

campaigns. Benetton not only developed a new way to approach product advertisements,

but it developed a new form of corporate communication. When an individual views the

Benetton logo, he or she could possibly relate the brand with not only clothing, but with

corporate responsibility (Giroux 8). As stated in their Winter 1992 campaign literature,

“Among the various means available to achieve the brand recognition that every

company must have, we at Benetton believe our strategy for communication to be more

effective for the company and more useful to society than would be yet another series of

advertisements shooting pretty girls wearing pretty clothes” (Cited in Falk 73).

Controversial Benetton Campaigns

After a couple of years of research and development of the campaign, Toscani

released his amalgamation of politics and fashion to the public in 1991 (Giroux 7).

Benetton has been criticized and censored all over the world, because people see this

form of advertising as exploiting social topics in order to sell sweaters (Falk 76). The

Italian clothing company believes that, unlike the many advertisements that flatter

consumers with lies, they are attempting to bring truth to the masses about issues they see

as being important. The company has constantly defended itself through Colors, their

website, and through interviews with selected executives conducted with the press.

(Giroux 9) An example of this was Toscani’s statement:

Unlike traditional adverts, our images usually have no copy and no product, onlyour logo. They do not show you a fictitious reality in which you will beirresistible if you make use of our products. They do not tell anyone to buy ourclothes, they do not even imply it. All they attempt to do is promote a discussion

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about issues, which people would normally glide over if they approached themfrom other channels, issues we feel should be more widely discussed (cited inGanesan 57).

In this same campaign, race issues were one of the controversial themes that

dominated the campaign, but even during their early stages of advertisements, Benetton

incorporated examples of interracial harmony. This is apparent in their first international

campaign in 1984 entitled, “All the Colors of the World,” in which people of all colors

frolicked within the ad (Tinic 5). Even though this may seem copasetic, this campaign

was also a source of controversy; it was banned in South Africa in publications that were

reserved for whites. The Benetton advertisements have attracted groups of followers and

cynics around the globe but one thing is certain: they have never been ignored. An

example of one of their more controversial race themed advertisements featured a black

woman breast-feeding a white infant. (see fig. 1)

Many women were outraged, because they interpreted this in a negative context,

stating that it was a reference to the days of slavery in which female slaves were required

to serve as a wet nurse to the slave owner’s child (Ganesan 56). This particular

advertisement also represents the dueling interpretations of Benetton ads. Although the

advertisement was banned from publication in the United States, it received multiple

artistic awards in Europe (Tinic 5). Benetton maintained that this form of advertising

was only their representation of unification of mankind (i.e. mother’s milk is universal in

its importance), and was not exploitation of any particular race (Ganesan 56). Other

examples of race-themed controversy that circulated during this time included a picture

of a black horse mounting a white one, a white wolf standing next to a black sheep, a

large white hand holding a smaller black one, and a picture of three hearts with the words

Fig. 1 “BreastFeeding” (multiplepublications 1989)United Colors ofBenetton.

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“white,” “black,” and “yellow” written across them. The latter advertisement implied

that underneath our skin, we are all the same color (see fig. 2) (Gwin 12).

During this point, three advertisements dramatically increased the controversy

surrounding Benetton’s advertising techniques (Tinic 5). The first was from a war

themed series and featured a Liberian guerilla holding a human thighbone behind his

back. This advertisement was on voluntary prohibition in Britain and Japan, and was

completely banned in France (Mantle 24). The second featured a man in his hospital bed

surrounded by his family shortly before he died of AIDs (Tinic 7-8). This advertisement

was originally used by Life Magazine in a segment feature about the AIDs virus. Toscani

received permission from the family in order to use it within its AIDs awareness

campaign (Lloyd 13). When it was published in Life it received an array of praise, but

when Benetton used it in its campaign, it was considered disgusting, exploitive, and

degrading (see fig. 3) (Giroux 18).

During this time in history, society was not as informed as it is now about the

virus, and the purpose of the campaign was to inform the public about the dangers of

AIDs, and create compassion for those who have been affected. Another goal of the

Fig. 2 “Hearts”(multiplepublications1996) UnitedColors ofBenetton.

Fig. 3 “AIDS –David Kirby”(multiplepublications1992) UnitedColors ofBenetton.

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AIDs themed advertisements was to raise the awareness of society, because during this

time there was a general misconception that this deadly virus mostly affected homosexual

men. An example in which the primary focus was to raise awareness of susceptibility

was the advertisement that pictured a row of test tubes filled with blood, which had the

names of prominent world leaders written on them in attempt to show that no one is

immune to the disease (Knepper).

Many other controversial advertisements that sparked debates all over the world

included everything from religion (an image of a nun kissing a priest) to the environment

(a duck completely covered in oil) the miracle of life (a picture of a newborn baby girl

still covered in blood and attached to her umbilical cord) (Ganesan 56), but perhaps the

most well-known is the series that ran from January to March 2000: the “Looking Death

in the Face” campaign. Benetton ran advertisements in magazines and billboards

featuring death row inmates with only the words “sentenced to death” alongside the green

and white Benetton logo. The company also created a publication and booklet to

accompany the advertisements entitled “We, on death row,” which attempted to show the

reality of capital punishment. They included photos and interviews of twenty-six

prisoners that were sentenced to death (Ganesan 57). These interviews included

conversations about the death row inmates’ favorite food, hobbies, and other personal

information, in order to bring a human element into the mix (Gwin 12). Jerome Mallett is

one of the prisoners featured in the campaign. He is a Missouri native who has been on

death row since 1986 after his conviction of killing a highway trooper. "I was born. I am

going to die," says Mallett. He is quoted in the magazine as saying, "I know I'm going to

die. Unfortunately, it will be probably through execution" (see fig. 4) (Feyerick).

Fig. 4 “We OnDeath Row”(multiplepublications 2000)United Colors ofBenetton.

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The campaign spurred widespread protests from customers, the families of

murder victims, and the U.S. government. Prior to the beginning of this campaign,

Benetton clothes were being distributed throughout Sears stores throughout the U.S.

After complaints and boycotts throughout the U.S., the clothing line was dropped from

Sears stores and Toscani was asked to leave the company.

The Effectiveness of Benetton’s Anti-Advertising

In order to determine the effectiveness of a campaign, there must be an

understanding of what the intended results of the campaign were expected to exhibit.

The first thing that a company can hope to get out of a campaign is that the

advertisements were noticed and remembered. After the retention of the information a

consumer would have to understand the message. Next is the persuasion level, in which

the advertiser can hopefully change perceptions or affect the consumer emotionally. The

last category is behavior, getting the audience to try or buy the product or perform some

other action (Wells 7). After the first controversial campaign in 1991, the company’s

worldwide profits rose 24 percent from the previous year. According to Giroux, “In spite

of the criticism and perhaps in part owing to it, Benetton’s stock was up because of the

visibility of the company…Given the increase in sales, profits, and the widespread

publicity Benetton has received, the campaign appears to have worked wonders” (Giroux

8-9). Although there was a profit increase, Pasi Falk states that the success cannot be

attributed to only the advertising campaign. He believes that the larger impact of the

secondary circulation is the main motivator in the rise in sales. By secondary circulation

he means that the news and media attention, art shows, books published about the

subject, and papers such as this, is more the catalyst to increased profits (Falk 75-76).

But if this secondary circulation were the initial intention of Benetton, then it would

indeed prove that their campaign was a success. Benetton has achieved important

acknowledgements at an international level. Due to their campaigns, they have

developed relationships with prestigious associations such as the Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations World Food Program

(Benetton).

Advertising campaigns are developed to accomplish certain goals that a company

has set for itself. These goals are not always focused on increasing profits. Sometimes

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the company’s desire is to create awareness and name recognition, and sometimes the

purpose of a campaign is merely to create an understanding (Wells 7-8). There is no

doubt that Benetton was looking to accomplish the aforementioned brand image and

profit improvements, but according to Benetton, their main objective was to create an

understanding about controversial and taboo issues that face society (Knepper).

Although it is not possible to conclude whether or not the United colors of Benetton

campaign strategy was the direct cause of profit increases and market growth, the

notorious campaigns have contributed to the company’s global recognition. Luciano

Benetton stated that the company is “only interested in the world and people. I have

always been sympathetic to people’s problems, to minority rights, birth control, disease,

wars, racism, religious intolerance. I cannot offer solutions to these problems, but if I can

make people more aware than that is all I offer” (cited in Tinic 8). Although there are

people who state they would never shop at Benetton due to the way they advertise, it

might be because they are not part of Benetton’s target market. Those that are offended

by or do not understand specific advertisements, usually they are not the intended source

for that particular message (Corex).

Benetton Today

Today, there are United Colors of Benetton stores in over 120 countries, with a

total of 5,000 stores worldwide (Benetton). There have been a few changes made in the

way Benetton conducts its promotional efforts since the days of Toscani. Their Colors

magazine has added articles to their thought provoking pictorials, which adds more

sentiment and understanding to the publication (Horyn E1). The magazine is presently

sold in over thirty countries and is published in four different languages (Benetton).

Although the advertisements have been less controversial, the company has not

completely steered away from its original objective to bring socially relevant messages to

their consumers. Paolo Landi, Benetton’s current advertising director stated, “We will

continue to collaborate on dramatic issues. Why not? It’s in our philosophy” (cited in

Dolbow). Benetton still allocates about eighty million dollars of their spending budget to

their advertising campaigns, with about three and half million specifically for the U.S.

(Fass 40). On their website you can navigate through the latest fashion trends and find

intriguing pictures and articles on issues like whale hunting, land minds, and the ozone

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layer depletion. Currently, The Benetton Group produces over 110 million garments

each year, 90% of which are in Europe. Through the years, they have developed the

additional popular stores Sisley, Playlife and Killer Loop. According to Benetton’s

website, their “retail network of 5,000 stores around the world is increasingly focused on

large floor-space points of sale offering high quality customer services and now generates

a total turnover of 1.9 billion euros, net of retail sales” (Benetton).

Benetton is important not only because of its marketing success, but also becauseit has taken a bold stance in attempting to use advertising as a forum to addresshighly charged social and political issues. Through its public statements andadvertising campaigns, Benetton has brought a dangerously new dimension tocorporate appropriation as a staple of postmodern aesthetics (Giroux 4-5).

Benetton’s latest campaign features images of James, Pumbu, Jackson, and

Bonny, taken by James Mollison. These are not supermodels or even actors; they are

apes (see fig. 5) (Jane). A supporter of Benetton’s Ape campaign is primatologist, Jane

Goodall, who states, “If we don’t do anything to save them, in 10 to 15 years the great

apes could disappear from the majority of the areas where they now live.” She also

states that a hundred years ago there were two million chimps, while today there are

around 150,000 due to human expansion and deforestation (Benetton). The apes featured

in the advertisements are located in sanctuaries in Africa and Asia after they were

confiscated from illegal traders (Jane).

Fig. 5 “James andOther Apes”(multiplepublications 2004)United Colors ofBenetton.

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Conclusion

Among the vast array of media present in the world today, advertising is one of

the most influential and powerful tools of them all. Advertising has taken on many forms

since it originated thousands of years ago. It has evolved from tablets to printed signs on

moveable type to television and today you can find advertising just about any place you

look. This research has shown that the evolution of advertising is not only physical, but it

has now evolved into something representing s multifaceted set of values and principles.

In order to fully understand the complexities of the progression to anti-advertising, this

research has outlined different types of conventional advertising and the importance

advertising plays when it comes to social responsibility. Out of the various forms of anti-

advertising, the photojournalistic images that Benetton uses to convey their message is a

benefit to society, unlike other forms of anti-advertising such as sex-based campaigns.

For the last twenty years, Benetton has been a company generally known by many

more for its advertising than the clothes they produce, and even with the slight decrease

in sales they have experienced in recent years, they have stayed true to their philosophy

in trying to raise our awareness of many problems that were too taboo to bring up in

conversation, let alone advertising. If one were to compare Benetton to a person, the late

eighties and early nineties were the wild, rebellious teen years of the company, and in the

last few years it has matured and settled into a more conservative way of expressing

social issues. Benetton is not a completely different company than it was from 1991-

2000; they still have the same values and sense of social responsibility. Today, Benetton

is just a wiser and more established company that is not out to shock the world to force

them into social justice discussions.

Benetton’s philosophy about social responsibility may have stemmed from

Luciano Benetton’s desire to make the world aware of the need for social justice and

Oliviero Toscani’s personal dislike for conventional advertising, but Benetton conducted

market research that showed today’s consumers are more socially active and desired

corporate social responsibility in companies that they dealt directly with (Giroux 8). It is

the belief of this researcher that whether or not Benetton is a success or failure monetarily

is secondary when it comes to its cultural importance. Each new generation is more

concerned with the status of global and social affairs than the preceding generation. It is

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insignificant whether or not Benetton happens to sell a few sweaters due to their

campaigns that create awareness on important issues. Anti-advertising campaigns that

promote social justice contain their value in the presentation of the subject matter, and

not in their revenue.

“The ad world, able to produce images, understand trends and catch attention, isnow central to our lives, our imaginations and –its best minds now think- ourconsciences” (Lloyd 13).

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