United Colors of Controversy!

Italian clothing giant United Colors of Benetton, popularly known as UCB has always grabbed eyeballs for its controversial advertising campaigns. What’s rather interesting about each one of them is the fact that they’ve somehow always managed to convey a social message with each campaign, usually that of unity in diversity.

Here’s a look at some of the most memorable ones:

 

This ad, showcasing a priest and nun sharing a kiss created quite a flutter, as it was indicative of a possible clash between religion and desire.

 

The famous ‘Handcuffs’ ad was created with a motive of creating awareness about the fact that humanity had nothing to do with skin colour.

 

One of the most touching ads from the house of Benetton, this one showcases three hearts , reflecting the fact that skin color can’t differentiate people, especially their hearts.

 

This ad coincided with the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic games to draw public attention to the dangers that AIDS poses.

 

This one talked about the basic idea of love transcending the boundaries of colour.

Benetton's most controversial ads

Will a picture of the Pope kissing Ahmed el-Tayeb, Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque, encourage fashion savvy shoppers to ditch Uniqlo and buy their brightly coloured jumpers from Benetton instead? Probably not. But it does remind the public that the Italian brand has quite a history of provocative campaigns.

A Benetton clothing store window covered by posters as part of the launch of a publicity campaign with photo montages showing Pope Benedict XVI kissing Egypt's Ahmed el-Tayeb, imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, and Barack Obama with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, 2011

An HIV Positive advertising campaign in Paris, 1993: Benetton's Aids campaign also included a picture of David Kirby, an HIV Positive patient, as he lay dying in hospital. Kirby's parents said: 'We don’t feel we’ve been used by Benetton, but rather the reverse: David is speaking much louder now that he’s dead, than he did when he was alive''

A Food for Work advert, 2003: Benetton says of the campaign: 'It highlighted the problem of hunger, which is still the greatest humanitarian emergency around the world even though it has, to all intents and purposes, been forgotten by the media and the general public