Marketing communication: principles and practice

C O M M U N I C A T I O N I D E O L O G Y
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Ask for what is Benetton known, and most people will recall the infamous attention-getting
and controversial imagery employed in their advertising. A social controversy theme can
be easily identified throughout their advertising run over two decades. The controversial
and at times shocking (and even offensive) images often cause controversy in themselves.
This is reported as news, further raising awareness of the Benetton brand beyond customers.
On several occasions they have gone too far for some people. Advertisements featuring
death in various forms were described as shock tactics and bad taste. They have pursued
an international format, thus avoiding the cultural or linguistic inadequacies of presenting
a single nationality. This approach has been presented under the banner ‘United Colours
of Benetton’. In highlighting colour as being more than black and white, they have challenged
many racial tensions head on.
Do Benetton advertisements reflect social issues? Their series of wild, attention-getting
images has been rationalized, after the event, as expressing the corporation’s concerns.
However, we might ask whether their creative ideas might not have led to a much better
positioning strategy statement than was originally conceived. This is ‘after-the-fact
positioning strategy’. Benetton claim that the pictures they present should not be viewed as
advertisements but as statements – images of social issues to raise public awareness and
debate. They claim that nothing could be further from their minds than simply selling
jumpers.
The core values of a nation define acceptable market relationships. Advertisers must
understand their own and others’ so that they do not violate them. Consider, for example,
most Americans never see their more provocative advertisements because they are banned
as too provocative and offensive. Minority groups have complained, for example, of racism
when a black man was shown handcuffed to a white man. This implied, they claimed, that
the former was a criminal. They may have lost many sales and even previously loyal
customers in sticking to their strongly held core values. Yet, perhaps, rather than being a
weakness in management, this demonstrates a willingness to decide with whom to trade.
This is product-market targeting in action.
Does Benetton advertising cause unnecessary offence and even damage in society? The
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK has ruled several times against Benetton
and its advertising agency for failing to show respect, their ‘apparent willingness to provoke
distress’, and their ‘disregard for the sensitivities of the public’. 
Benetton marketers have been able to use high-impact, relatively low-cost media:
magazines (emphasizing colour and the Benetton ‘lifestyle’, billboards, and posters (with
TV spots in Europe emphasizing ‘sport’ and ‘youth’). They sought public sites, and billboards
generally do not need prior approval from advertising regulators, and can be changed
relatively quickly in response to feedback. This has paid off several times in the face of 
public outrage and consequent backlash. In the UK, the new-born baby campaign caused
over 800 complaints to the ASA, as well as to Trading Standards Offices (and even to 
the police). Other brand awareness campaigns have tackled civil rights, birth control, and
world peace.
In 1993, the $25 million global campaign replaced images of a dying AIDS victim and
oil-drenched seagulls with that of a naked Chairman Luciano Benetton with the strap line ‘I
want my clothes back’. This avoided adverse media criticism and presented a softer, more
caring identity. In combining brand promotion with a social concern, the advertisements
appealed for consumers to return their old unwanted clothes for recycling. In association
with the International Red Cross, clothes gathered were sent to many problem areas.

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