The Benetton Group
The Benetton Group The Controversy Continues Problem Identification Benetton,
the world famous clothing producer, once again dives into social issues that the
United States may not be ready for. The Italy based group is well known for
their shocking world issue advertisements that only bear the company logo. In
fact, Benetton’s advertisements traditionally do not feature the clothes it
sells; only the issues play the lead role. After years of controversy over ads
such as AIDS, war, interracial relationships, and priests kissing nuns, it may
be time for Benetton to campaign about something other than controversial social
issues, like clothes. On January 1, 2000, Benetton’s new advertising campaign
wasn’t about sweaters or pants, but about convicted murderers that are on death
row. The “death row” ads feature portraits of American death row inmates in
prison uniforms with the slogan “Sentenced to Death”. The ads give the inmate’s
name, date of birth, crime, and expected method of execution.
Within the
campaign, inmates also talk about topics ranging from their childhood to their
dreams, everything except their victims. According to CNN, victims’ rights
advocates are outraged as well as are the individuals that lost loved ones to
the profiled inmates. Once again, Benetton is faced with another controversy
that could perhaps worsen their already poor US market share. According to the
New York Stock Exchange, where The Benetton Group is publicly traded, it seems
that the company has lost over ten dollars per share since their peak of 50
15/16 in January. This decrease could be attributed to many things, but perhaps
the most significant was the February announcement that Sears would immediately
pull Benetton designed clothes from all 400 of its stores that had been selling
the Benetton USA line. The Benetton USA line was specifically designed for Sears
when the two companies joined last summer to introduce a new line of juniors,
kids, and men’s apparel. Troubled by the campaign, Sears renegotiated its
contract with Benetton to gain the right to preview future Benetton ad
campaigns. A revised clause in the contract also gave Sears the ability to
withdraw from the deal without penalty if the two parties were unable to agree
on future campaigns, according to CNN. Regardless of these changes, the
controversy was too significant for Sears to ignore due to the hundreds of
consumer complaints that poured into the store after the campaign released.
