Corporate Social Responsibility in Benetton

Introduction

Benetton, the Italian retailer is engaged in the manufacturing and distribution of

clothing, undergarments, shoes, cosmetics and accessories. The groups important
brands include United Colors of Benetton (UCB), Sisley, PlayLife, and Killer Loop.
Prior to 2015, the company operated retail outlets around the world, including
megastores (3000 square foot stores) in such cities as Paris, Rome, Kobe, Osaka, New
York, London, Moscow and Lisbon. As of 2002, the company operated in about 120
countries through its 5000 retail stores and employed about 7250 people. However,
since the 2013 collapse of the building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where Benetton and
other retailers had their clothing manufactured, Benetton has closed most of its retail
stores. Today, Benetton operates primarily as an online retailer, and is slowly
rebuilding its retail brick and mortar presence in Europe.

Benetton is well-known for its colorful and provocative advertisements and

clothing line. The company employs unusual, controversial advertising techniques
and themes that use shock value and the power of photography to grab viewers
attention. Unlike most clothing retailers, which have advertisements centered around
their companys product or image, Benettons advertising campaigns focus on social
and political issues such as racial integration, AIDS awareness, war, poverty, child
labor, death, pollution, LGBT rights, etc. The advertisements force consumers to think
not only about the products being sold, but also about the important human rights
issues highlighted by the models. While Benetton initially succeeded in raising the
brand's profile, its failure to promptly engage in transparency and dialogic
communication with its stakeholders after the collapse of the building in Dhaka
caused a rapid decline in sales. The companys decline in retail sales was further
exacerbated by the change in consumers preference to buy clothing online. Using
Unrelated Controversial Issues in Advertising

From the early 1980s, Benetton believed in pursuing an unconventional

communication strategy. As one company document put it:

Benetton believes that it is important for companies to take a stance in the real world
instead of using their advertising budget to perpetuate the myth that they can make
consumers happy through the mere purchase of their product. The company has opted
for a communication strategy in which issues and not clothes, play the lead part. The
company has decided to devote some of its advertising budget to communicate on
themes relevant to young and old people worldwide. Luciano and Toscani realized
that Benetton advertisements had to stand apart from the rest of the competition. They
decided to promote Benetton as a life style brand that promoted human rights,
worldwide equality, and concern for AIDS.

Toscani, Benettons Creative Director and Photographers, first theme featured

teenagers and kids from culturally diverse nations. Colorfully dressed in Benetton
attire, the kids engaged in a variety of playful acts. By linking the various colors in the
Benetton collection to the diverse colors of its international customers, Toscani
portrayed a picture of racial harmony and world peace. It was from these
advertisements that the trademark United Colors of Benetton emerged.
Benetton also launched a more shocking advertisement showing a models body
tattooed with the English abbreviation HIV Positive. The tattoo mark was similar to
the numbers tattooed by Nazis on concentration camp prisoners. Other controversial
advertisements included three identical human hearts, with stickers announcing
different ethnic groups white, black, yellow. The hearts emphasized that all people
were same inside, no matter what was their outside skin color,
In January 2000, Benetton launched a year- long $15 million global advertising
campaign called We, on Death Row. The campaign, which featured 26 US prisoners
who had been sentenced to death, appeared on billboards and in major publications in
Europe, America, and Asia, and on its website. Toscani developed the campaign after
spending more than two years visiting death row prisoners in several American
prisons. While many of Benettons advertising campaigns discussed important human
rights issues, Benetton never seemed to disclose how much, if any, they spent on
funding charities or projects which actually dealt with these problems.
Benetton also expressed its commitment to respecting the environment and
promoting consumer safety by engaging in a global effort to achieve zero discharge of
potentially hazardous chemicals by actors in its supply chain. As part of its
commitment to the environment, the company substituted hazardous chemicals with
sustainable ones in the manufacture of its textiles In addition, since 2013, Benetton
has engaged in publishing investigative reports and research that seek to promote a
better understanding of the progress they have made in the elimination of harmful
chemicals and dyes.