Unhate
United Colors of Benetton2011
Unhate is a 2011 press and poster campaign for United Colors of Benetton, created by Fabrica, with 72andSunny Amsterdam.
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The line
Unhate
Why it works
World leaders kissing their adversaries: Barack Obama and Hugo Chávez, Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, locked in tender embraces above one word, "UNHATE". Created by Fabrica, Benetton's communication research centre, with 72andSunny Amsterdam, and launched in November 2011 to announce the brand's Unhate Foundation, the montages were a deliberate provocation about reconciliation, pitched as ironic hope rather than endorsement. The most incendiary image, Pope Benedict XVI kissing a senior Egyptian imam, was pulled almost as soon as the campaign broke. Benetton reported more than 3,000 articles and 600 television reports in 60 countries. It is studied both as an example of a fashion brand making itself a voice on tolerance through pure image, and as a live debate about where provocation tips into exploitation. It won the Press Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012, the jury singling out the Obama-Chávez, Abbas-Netanyahu and Merkel-Sarkozy executions.
Techniques
- Shock and provocation Montages of world leaders kissing their adversaries, one pulled almost immediately, deliberately provoke outrage and debate to get the message noticed.
- Purpose and cause The kisses announce a foundation and position the fashion brand as a voice for tolerance and reconciliation.
- Visual metaphor Adversaries locked in tender embraces above one word turn reconciliation into a picture, carrying the brand's stance on tolerance through image alone.
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