Journalism Teaching Note Homework Do you agree with Benetton’s decision to drop the use of shock ads and return to the use of more conventional ads

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Teaching Note

Benetton Group: Evolution of Communication Strategy

Case Overview

This case examines the controversial “shock advertising” campaign that was used by Benetton, the

Italian-based clothing manufacturer and retailer for nearly two decades. Thanks to its unusual

Benetton has always been well known for its colorful and provocative advertisements. The

company employs unusual, controversial advertising techniques and themes that use “shock value” and

powerful images to grab viewers’ attention. Unlike most advertisements which center on a company’s

product or image, Benetton’s advertising campaigns have focused on social and political issues such as

racial integration, AIDS awareness, war, poverty, child labor, death, hunger, and pollution. Many of the

either Chapters 8 or 9 which deal with creative strategy. Benetton has used the shock ads to position the

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This teaching note was prepared by Senthil Ganesan.

company as a cutting-edge, socially conscious marketer. Many students will be familiar with Benetton

and its controversial ads as they are part of the company’s primary target market. Thus, the case should

Discussion Questions

1. What are the basic objectives of advertising? What are the advertising objectives of Benetton?

Advertising may be used to achieve a variety of objectives including building awareness of the brand

and/or company, informing customers about the product/service or company, providing information and

developing an image Additional objectives include creating favorable attitudes and preferences for a

2. Discuss the pros and cons of the shock advertising campaign that Benetton used for many years.

There are few companies in the world that enjoy the global brand recognition of Benetton. The

unconventional shock advertisements used in this campaign evoked strong feelings among consumers and

helped the company attract attention and generate publicity. One of Toscani’s quotes is appropriate here:

There are also a number of negative aspects to the Benetton shock ads. Many critics argued that

Benetton was exploiting human suffering to sell its products and felt that the company used the ads to

create controversy and generate publicity rather than to address social issues. One might question whether

the type of publicity Benetton was getting from its shock ads was really beneficial to the company. The

Benetton ads were controversial even in more liberal European countries, and advertising self-regulatory

bodies in Britain, France, and Spain condemned some of the ads and urged magazines to reject them. As

3. Oliviero Toscani has defended Benetton’s use of shock advertising by noting that it constitutes

nothing less than a debate between advertising and art. He argues that potentially offensive

images are acceptable in the world of art and journalism while in other realms such as

advertising they are not. Do you agree with Toscani’s position?

The position taken by Oliver Toscani, Benetton’s former creative director, is that advertising should be

free from any type of censorship or scrutiny since it is often a form of art. When viewing advertising as

There are other examples which support Toscani’s argument. For example, the December 22, 2003 issue

of Time Magazine featured the Year in Pictures 2003 and showed disturbing images of the Iraq and

Afghan war injured and dead — not very different from Toscani’s image of the bloodied uniform of the

Bosnian soldier shown in one of the Benetton ads. Ethical or moral standards are very subjective and

relative as evident from reactions to the Benetton ads showing an image of a priest and nun kissing. While

this ad was banned in Italy, it won the Eurobest Award in Britain.

4. Can you think of any other companies that use shock advertising? For what type of companies

might this type of advertising be effective?

Calvin Klein and Benetton are the two companies that are probably best known for using shock ads

although there are a number of other companies that have used the technique. Calvin Klein has been using

shock ads for nearly two decades and built the company and brand by tapping into both the charge and the

Many retailers rebelled against the Calvin Klein ads featuring childlike models in provocative poses

which was referred to as “kiddie porn” by many critics. Irate consumer groups also called for boycotts

and threatened to picket stores carrying the brand.

While other companies have used shock ads, Benetton’s use of the advertising genre is unique.

While the ads of Calvin Klein and FCUK are meant to differentiate these brands and increase sales,

Benetton’s goal (at least according to Toscanni) was to raise the public’s awareness and make them more

conscience of important social issues. Few companies are brave enough to experiment to such a degree

with their advertising. One exception is Egg Banking, a United Kingdom based online financial services

5. Do you agree with Benetton’s decision to drop the use of shock ads and return to the use of

more conventional ads?

Benetton appears to have pushed the envelope too far with the “We, On Death Row” campaign as the ads

generated very negative reactions and there were strong repercussions as a result. Families of the victims

objected strongly to the campaign and accused Benetton of glamorizing murderers while ignoring the

crimes they had committed. The state of Missouri filed a lawsuit arguing that it had been misled regarding

in Europe had more already banned the death penalty. However, as a result of the increasing furor,

Toscani resigned in May 2000. He was replaced by James Mollison, a graduate of Fabrica, Benetton’s

cultural research and development center that backs young artists from all over the world.

Rather than moving solely into product based advertising after Toscani’s exit, the company could

still continue to address social issues like war, poverty, education, child labor and exploitation and the

like but with less controversial ads. In fact, Benetton indicated that it would not be completely

abandoning its social issues messages and planned to run ads speaking to the refugee issue. The subject is

very important to James Mollison who wrote a book on Kosovan refugees in conjunction with the United