What happened to United Colors of Benetton? How Zara, H&M and Uniqlo stole its thunder
- Its controversial advertisements once placed Benetton on the cutting edge of culture but by the early ’00s the Italian brand seemed unsure of who its market was
- While tastes in fashion changed, Benetton did not, and a relaunch of ’90s ad campaigns ironically came too early for this year’s wave of ’90s nostalgia
Benetton’s advertising campaigns were designed to be unforgettable. Somewhat ironically, 30 years on, they are the only thing many of us remember about a brand that was once hugely successful.
The images that provocative art director Oliviero Toscani created for the Italian brand were plastered on walls, in train stations and airports, and across glossy magazines. All were controversial – largely because they contained moments completely unrelated to fashion, such as a newborn baby with the umbilical cord still intact or an artistic reproduction of a man dying of Aids.
Even some of the less visually controversial images – such as a mixed-race lesbian family or a nun and a priest kissing – pushed the boundaries of the era, and led to a backlash from the church and a wide range of specialist groups.
And yet they marked the brand as being on the cutting edge of culture and at the forefront of race and gender politics.
No company, however, can survive on advertising alone, and in the ’80s and ’90s, the retailer became one of the most powerful in the world because of its designs, too.
