Benetton Group: UNHATE Foundation campaign

Benetton Group which owns United Colours of Benetton (UCB) has never been away from controversies.  The campaign of a new born baby, unwashed with the umbilical cord still attached (Most Controversial Campaign according to Guinness World Records 2000) was one of the first controversial campaigns amongst others, which included 3 pig hearts (very similar to human heart), with white black and yellow written on it, a priest and nun kissing, and an actual photo of a Mafia killing that took place in about 1982, in Palermo, Italy (was developed by photographer Oliviero Toscani). The use of ‘shock’ advertising by Benetton Group is often criticized, but is still a major topic of discussion. They have done it again with the UNHATE Foundation campaign.

I had mixed feelings when I saw the new campaign of different world leaders lip-locked together. The poster I saw was that of the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel (I thought to myself, ‘now! When did this happen?!’). After reading the whole story, I Googled the other posters and was quite shocked to see the other UNHATE posters. I have to agree that the campaign was controversial, but also rendered a converse a deep message of the current world politics and the UNHATE Foundation campaign.

UNHATE Foundation has launched an integrated and interactive marketing campaign aimed at the youth (http://unhate.benetton.com/). I have also seen the website and I do support the cause of ‘creation of a new culture of tolerance’ (Although I am not sure whether it’s a part of their corporate social responsibility).  The campaign also promotes ‘Kiss Wall’ on the website, where users can upload their picture of kiss along with an ‘UNHATE’ message. There is also a video related to the campaign. It starts by showing faces of individuals, followed by a series of confrontations and ends with a mother kissing her baby. The video showed different relationships, including people of different race and ethnicity, age, gay sex and two girls in veils passionately kissing. It’s true, people will like the campaign or hate it, but at the end, they will be talking about it.