Benetton's cheap (but brilliant) trick.

Obama and Hu Jintao

Benetton is such a drama it’s not even funny. Like really.

Waisey hee, I don't like the brand because they have such blah clothes. Like honestly at times it amazes me that the company is still alive and running, cos I'm not sure who exactly it is that actually goes inside their store. Ever. In fact, I don’t think I've seen a Benetton store in the last decade or so. Oh wait, I think I have. Anyway we all know how in like the 80s/90s they had this never ending campaign called 'United Colors of Benetton’, I think we all remember seeing those adverts featuring multi-racial people in multi-colored clothes right? Also, side note, but is it me or did everyone mistake the name of the campaign for the brand's actual name? I genuinely thought the brand was United Colors of Benetton. In fact I'm pretty sure it was because I remember the acronym UCB. Don't you? Weird.

Obama and Chavez

Anyway, so hoorah for their politically conscientious campaign back then, not to mention controversial / attention grabbing. Now, after ages they have decided to pull a similar campaign , that preaches the message of " unhate". They show this by showing prominent and well, cordial at best political leaders kissing. Yeah.  It really bothers me. Not for any other reason, but because what was not so apparent to me as a kid, is now crystal clear to me. They don't really care for world politics and human rights. It’s just sales and brand awareness. So to me, it seems like a low blow. A cheap trick you know? I'd much rather prefer if your open about your intent instead of hiding behind the damned "world peace" slogan that is flung around the media like dirty rag cloth in a messy kitchen. And on top of that they have blah clothes. The nerve I tell you.

Anyway, their new campaign preaches the message of unhate, cos you know of all the negativity in the world causing all these disasters like the debt crisis in Athens, and the Wall Street demonstrations. So through their campaign they want to bring about the message of a lil love. Because they care about the world so much na  (yet they continue making ---- clothes). Please, they just want to send some shockwaves in the media , to increase their brand awareness, to make it a part of the conversation, and well hopefully increase sales, cos according to a report last year, the company in the last decade has shown a mere 1.5% growth in sales.

The Pope and Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb

See, the reason I'm being unnecessarily mean to poor Benetton is because of what the deputy chairman of the company, Alessandro Benetton said to the Wall Street Journal about the new campaign.

"In a moment of darkness, with the financial crisis, what's going on in North African countries, in Athens, this is an attitude we can all embrace that can have positive energy."

"While global love is still a utopia, albeit a worthy one, the invitation 'not to hate', to combat the 'culture of hatred', is an ambitious but realistic objective," he said. 

"At this moment in history, so full of major upheavals and equally large hopes, we have decided, through this campaign, to give widespread visibility to an ideal notion of tolerance and invite the citizens of every country to reflect on how hatred arises particularly from fear of 'the other’ and of what is unfamiliar to us. Ours is a universal campaign, using instruments such as the internet, the world of social media, and artistic imagination, and it is unique, in that it calls the citizens of the world to action."

Kim Jong Il and Lee Myung-bak

I mean, that is such B.S, come on, we can all see through that na?  And I know that advertising and marketing has gone much lower than that to sell products. I have featured such examples in this very blog, but at least they are upfront about how dirty they are you know? They aren't hiding behind the morally correct oh-we-care-about-the-world curtain unlike Benetton.  

Merkel and Sarkozy

Yet, I have to say- in today’s day and age when conversation amounts almost anything, this was quite brilliant. I’m talking about it aren’t I?

If they really want to increase sales, I hope they are selling t-shirts based on those very advertisements. Then they're really onto something. But still, cheap trick B.

Netanyahu and Abbas

Tomorrow I'm going to check out Benetton's clothes cos Ive badmouthed  them so much that its only fair if they turn out to be quite nice.