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... he Benetton Group "constitutes the traditional and innovative "heart" of the system." The Benetton Group operates in 120 countries, with the 6, 000 stores, but it gets only 5 % of sales in the world's biggest market, the US (Sansoni, 1998). "Our products are maybe too frivolous for American tastes, " says Luciano Benetton (Sansoni, 1998). Critics say, that clothing is not a problem: the company's practices of using advertisement based on provocation and playing on customer's emotions, are responsible for the situation. Benetton has a specific approach to issue of corporate social responsibility. It is expressed by company's ad philosophy, which is rooted in social awareness and changes. Olivier Toscani, creative director of the Benetton Group, says that the advertising industry does not recognize its power to influence culture for the better.
He states, that just advertising a product is a waste of communication. He also claims, "Advertising is the richest and most powerful form of communication in the world. We need to have images that will make people think and discuss" (web). Founder, Luciano Benetton, adds: "Advertising has a habit of portraying only the rich, beautiful and blonde. We need images of normal people, to help us see the world differently" (the same source).
The company positions on the role of marketing has received mixed reaction; from very positive, perceiving its practices as genuine expression of involvement in social problems, to ferocious attacks of others, who claim that company is putting a facade of social responsibility, just to cover an intention of getting publicity by any means possible (even if it means offending a lot of people). Benetton's web site summarizes history of its advertising quite adequately: United Colors Divided Opinions. Since the beginning Benetton's advertising has faced controversy: gathering awards and recognition on one side, and at the same time getting strong negative reactions from others. It started out quite innocently though. In 1984, the company ad showed six adorable children of different races wearing colorful ethnic clothing with the headline "All the World's Colors." This campaign appeared in 14 countries and along with the prize from the Dutch magazine "Avenue" came the refusal to print the ads in publications reserved for whites in South Africa. For the next few years company's message was peace and brotherhood.
The advertising was refreshingly different and it worked. The following campaign addressed the issue of racism. To describe a few of the posters: black woman breastfeeding a baby, black and white child on potties. Again public voices were split.
Even though the campaign was aiming at presenting the equality between blacks and whites, the African American community in U. S. opposed strongly to the first ad, claiming that it perpetuates the stereotype of the black nanny, relegated to subordinate role. Internationally, this photo became the most awarded image in Benetton's advertising history. In 1991, peace and brotherhood have been replaced by the desire to shock and provoke customers, as some of the opponents claim. Ads became more aggressive and attention grabbing.
First came a giant poster showing a cloud made up of multicolored condoms, after that the priest-kissing-a-nun poster, which drew protests from around the world, followed by a newborn child covered with blood. In 1993, Benetton launched Aids and Safe Sex Campaign, with its very graphic and controversial posters. The list goes on. The ads initially succeed in rising brand's profile, but eventually began to cause problems with customers and retailers. In 1995, German retailers sued Benetton, claiming the ads sabotage their sales effort. In the U.
S. , the company had even more problems. By 1995 stores had all but disappeared. Sensationalism bred more sensationalism, but not sales. Advertising Age reported surveys in which 83 % of customers said Benetton ads did not persuaded them to shop for the company products (Family, 2000). In the late nineties, to boost up sales in the U. S. , Benetton tried to team up with the Sears, Roebuck.
It could have worked if it was not for the upcoming advertising promotion. In the January 2000, Benetton launched "We, on Death Row" campaign. In it Benetton reveals the real faces of the prisoners on the death row along with an explanation: " (... ) this project aims at showing to the public the reality of capital punishment, so that no one around the world will consider the death penalty neither as a distant problem nor as news that occasionally appear on TV" (web). The pictures of faces of 27 incarcerated men and one woman, along with the interviews, first appeared as a 98 -page ad insert in the February issue of 'Talk' magazine. Toscani explains, "We wanted to talk about how it feels to be on death row.
What do they dream about? What are they afraid of?" (ibid) Many were outraged, claiming that Benetton wants to " (... ) increase its sales on the backs, on the misery, on the fates of condemned men and women, and their slaughtered victims" (Garfield 2000). It is difficult to guess if the Mr. Benetton or Mr. Toscani have anticipated the outcome of the campaign.
In Europe, the issue has not initiated such strong reactions, but in the U. S. the company got a crushing blow. Within weeks of the first ads, Benetton was hit by a lawsuit from the state of Missouri, along with boycotts organized by National Organization of Murder Children etc. All the controversy proved to be lethal to Benetton's contract with Sears, Roebuck & Co. In June 2000 the Advertising Standards Authority brushed aside 144 complains that Benetton's 'Death Row" campaign was offensive and disturbing, insisting its validity lay on grounds of the adviser's right to free speech.
Nevertheless, the company's image and sales suffered. In the light of recent events many have asked if using attention-grabbing ads, completely irrelevant to its product, is ethically right. How showing a convict can help company sell T-shirts? Are they allowed to use a shield of "improving society" in their marketing practices?
Toscani statement that he is just taking pictures not selling clothes (www. Benetton. com) raises even more questions. Vagueness of the company's campaign goals does not help either; although many of the social issues Benetton publicized in its advertising had been supported by the company's efforts beyond marketing (e. g. in 1993 "Clothing Redistribution Project"), some still feel it was done as a facade for the real cause: rising the brand's profile.
The ethicality of the company's advertising practices have been questioned for another reason as well: the high exposure (billboards, TV) increases the inability to control how many see them and how many can be offended by them. The company does not take any steps to ensure that viewers can choose whether they want to be exposed to the images presented (it could be done by using special warnings). The Benetton does just the opposite: it wants everybody to see it, because this is the only way they can change society (awareness). The ads may be perceived as psychoactive, and therefore ethically incorrect (e. g. the "Death Row" campaign had enormous negative impact on relatives of the murders' victims).
The problems with the campaign eventually led to the departure of Toscani from the company (after 18 years of collaboration). The parties had claimed that it had nothing to do with the last campaign, but critics took it as Benetton's acknowledgement of wrongdoing. In the summer of 2000, the Benetton advertising practices have changed as well: they turned from using the death row as means of publicity, towards doing shows on fashion runways. Many of the industry observers anticipate that company will convert to more traditional fashion advertising in order to increase its sales. They predict it will help the stock as well (Sloat, 2000). The results of rethinking the advertising philosophy are yet to be seen.
Judging by recent developments, the Benetton approach to social responsibility issues have not been entirely successful.
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Research essay sample on Marketing And Ethics United Colors Of Benetton
