Demolishing the barriers of advertising

As most of us know, controversial advertising is usually centered around critical topics such as religion, culture, gender and sex. One of the most controversial advertising campaigns so far was by United Colours of Benetton during the late 80's, early 90's. Some of the television commercials that aired demonstrated a priest kissing a nun, a black woman breastfeeding a white infant and a picture of three human hearts each one labelled Black, White and Yellow. Their ad campaign focussed on racial issues which is a very controversial topic. United Colours of Bentton's philosophy is based on Luciano Benetton's belief that 'communication should not be commissioned from outside the company, but conceived from within its heart.' They focussed value and on the individual and not on the customer.

They were bold enough to speak out about a topic that most advertising companies stayed away from because of the debate it might invoke. In the end, the fact that they took a chance and risked everything paid off. It created more brand awareness and got people talking about their product and their campaign. This in turn increased their revenue because their advertisements were everywhere and nobody could escape them. They focussed all their energy and time on their product and pushed it on their customers.

They used the word 'united' as a metaphor to 'unite' or bring together individuals of all races, gender, sex and colour.

Successful advertising has the characteristics of being persuasive and captures the audience in and convinces them that the product or service being advertised will enrich their lives. It creates brand awareness which in turn proves to be profitable. United Colours of Benetton was one company that proved they could create awareness of their brand by not following the typical advertising 'rules'.

The video below is an advertisement for United Colours of Benetton & it effectively portrays people from all parts of the world uniting together regardless of their race, religion, colour or gender.