Advertising is not necessarily ethical. This does not mean that it is an area without scruples, but it's just that the practice is always characterized by exaggeration. Awareness of the product helps increase consumption, and sometimes even creating needs. In a world where principles do not matter, a brand image can be created for the first time advocacy advertising.
For this study we focused on the evolution of the Benetton campaign from 1980 onwards. Three major periods are distinguished. In the first period from, we see the cycle of the difference 1980 to 1991, the cycle of reality between 1992 and 2000 and finally the cycle of the reason in the 2000s.
The company was founded in 1963 by four brothers and sisters,
Luciano, Guliana, Gilberto and Carlo, coming from a humble Italian background. The Benetton Group specializes in two main activities: the core business of clothing and the production of raw materials.
The company produces 110 million pieces per year, over 90% of which is generated in Europe. Clothes coming out of the factory are very diverse, ranging from the children's range to men and women and even for women during pregnancy. The other activity is mainly composed of the production of raw materials, semi finished products, services, industrial advertising, sports sponsorship and some real estate activities.
The activity of this company has, therefore, evolved over time. Apart from its core business, which is textiles, the group has diversified its activities. It is mainly present in the world of sport because it sponsors the rugby teams, basketball and volleyball in the city of Treviso. It is present also in Formula 1 racing as Benetton F1 with Renault engines and was made famous when, in 1995, they won the world champion constructors for the second time, while driver Michael Schumacher won his first world champion driver title.
Benetton has also appeared on the perfume market. It also became the owner of several brands including United Colors of Benetton, Sisley, The HIPE Site Playlife and Killer Loop. The group is present in 120 countries with 5,000 stores. It is distinguished by a commercial network that relies on large sales area and an excellent quality of services. Benetton operates worldwide and is found in the United States, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
In the early 80's Benetton's advertising campaigns were fairly standard: joyful and colorful, they depicted groups of adults or children of different ethnicities.
In 1982 Benetton entered into collaboration with photographer Oliviero Toscani. This award-winning photographer has become best known through the advertising campaigns he led for 18 years for the Benetton Group. His posters, which are no longer linked with the product itself, went on to become models of communication on social issues, such as the death penalty, AIDS, racism etc.
Tags: history of Benetton, Benetton sports sponsorships, Oliviero Toscani, Benetton advertising from the 1980s
[...] This would be done in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers to celebrate the International Year of Volunteering. Volunteering is the most common expression of human solidarity in the developed and developing world, this is why Benetton wanted to honor him. The campaign will appear in daily newspapers, and weekly women's magazines, not forgetting the billboards in major world capitals. Many volunteer forums will be represented as: - a former gang member now fighting violence - a transvestite distributing condoms to prostitutes, - an old tap dancer animating the days of residents of a care facility, - a retiree who runs a nudist camp in Germany . [...]
[...] Then, the theme of AIDS would be repeated in 1994 and 1995 with a poster over a thousand portraits and revealing the letters AIDS. Peace in the world would also be addressed through the photography of the bloodstained clothes of the soldier Marinko Gagro who was killed during the war in Yugoslavia. Then followed, an advertising campaign for the fight against hunger (1996). The image of cueillere becomes the official image of the food world. This collaboration with the FAO shows the importance and quality of Benetton's advertising campaigns. In spring 1996 a poster invaded billboards around the world. [...]
[...] Images would be disseminated through posters and in the global press. They contain several examples of measures to help the most disadvantaged - Sierra Leone, combatants received food when they decide to give up their arms and were then trained in a profession, - Women in Afghanistan were paid with food rations and were thus encouraged to become independent and to rebuild their lives. Food aid became "food for peace", "food for work", "food to go home", "food for education", "food for protection", and "food for stability" and allowed new opportunities for the reconstruction of the self-awareness of those who receive them. [...]
[...] In 1986, Toscani continued its campaign on equality of men by showing people from different countries coming together around the same symbol, globe." This globe is a strong image of peace in the world representing Iraq and Iran but also Israel and Germany. Two years later, Benetton launched a new slogan "United Superstars of Benetton". During this campaign Toscani involved a series of posters about cultural history. It represented very atypical duets such as Adam and Eve, Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe or Julius Caesar and Leonardo da Vinci. [...]
[...] This is the first time that words were used in a Benetton campaign. They were supposed to provide only one meaning, and a message which was univocal in this ad campaign. They were the strongest, and the public retained marking and exclusion. Following this campaign, the French Agency for fighting against AIDS (AFLS) complained against the Italian company and the advertising agency. Mad denounces the use of ethical and humanitarian causes for advertising purposes and responded by another campaign "United boycott" against Benetton, the proceeds of which would be paid to the Arcat-AIDS Association. [...]
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