Benetton Group is an Italian global fashion brand founded in 1965 that operates about 6,000 stores worldwide. It is known for its core clothing lines like United Colors of Benetton and for its provocative marketing campaigns featuring shocking images unrelated to its products. One controversial 1991 advert showed a bloodied newborn baby and prompted over 800 complaints. The company aims to promote anti-racism and created the UNHATE foundation.
Benetton Group is an Italian global fashion brand founded in 1965 that operates about 6,000 stores worldwide. It is known for its core clothing lines like United Colors of Benetton and for its provocative marketing campaigns featuring shocking images unrelated to its products. One controversial 1991 advert showed a bloodied newborn baby and prompted over 800 complaints. The company aims to promote anti-racism and created the UNHATE foundation.
Benetton Group is an Italian global fashion brand founded in 1965 that operates about 6,000 stores worldwide. It is known for its core clothing lines like United Colors of Benetton and for its provocative marketing campaigns featuring shocking images unrelated to its products. One controversial 1991 advert showed a bloodied newborn baby and prompted over 800 complaints. The company aims to promote anti-racism and created the UNHATE foundation.
based in Italy. The name comes from the Benetton family who founded the company in 1965. Benetton has a network of about 6,000 stores in the main international markets. The stores generate a total turnover of 1.6 billion euros (2013). BRANDS The company's core business remains their clothing lines:
United Colors of Benetton Undercolors of Benetton Sisley Playlife and Zerdodici
PRODUCTS Womens wear Mens wear Childrens wear and Underwear and they have expanded into perfumes, stationery, eyewear and travel bags. MARKETING The company is known for sponsorship of a number of sports, and for the provocative and original "United Colors" publicity campaign. The latter originated when photographer Oliviero Toscani was given carte blanche by the Benetton management. Under Toscani's direction, ads were created that contained striking images unrelated to any actual products being sold by the company.
Graphics Billboard-sized ads Included depictions of a variety of shocking subjects A deathbed scene of an AIDS activist David Kirby dying from AIDS
A bloodied, unwashed new born baby with umbilical cord still attached, which was highly controversial. This 1991 advert prompted more than 800 complaints to the British Advertising Standards Authority during 1991 and was featured in the reference book Guinness World Records 2000 as 'Most Controversial Campaign'.
Created the UNHATE Foundation
Three different hearts with "black", "white" and "yellow" written onto them.
Most of the advertisements, although not all, had a plain white background, and in most the company's logo served as the only text accompanying the image.