United Color of Benetton

 It was probably not my first time seeing  people with different reaction about United Color of Benetton's adverts. They truly shook the world , and me, in a good way. I didn't really have this sort of disgusted look when i saw some of their posters. I gradually have an interest in the photographer- Oliviero Toscani. In the 1970s, their posters was black and white , which makes it more conservative. After a few year , they makes it into color , which makes it more lose manners and happier. However , the target audience was mainly toward westerners as there are only white models. It may be normal back then , but personally, i would feel left out because i am Asian, which i can't feel related to anything with this brand.
But then things changed when Toscani joined Benetton. In 1984, Benetton produced a poster named "Tutti i colori del mondo" , which means " Color from all around the world". Nowadays, if you see this poster , you  would think it was a normal thing to do, such as having a black person hanging around with an Asian and a white person. Back then it was probably madness , people would have question like "how come there are Asian in here?" " i have never met one" , or " i don't even talk to them ". And if they have any kind of reaction , even from bad to good impression, it was still a success because people would never be able to forget about this poster. Not only that , the name its self also have double meaning. When you think of color , there are blue , orange ,red, yellow  green, grey , purple , white , black.. And in clothing, there are many color as well. So Toscani was promoting clothes for Benetton  by letting the models to wear them , but at the same time , he delivered the message from the Benetton that regardless of the skin color , Benetton is for everyone from all around the world. It was a beautiful message. This , of course , help Benetton to go to an international level.
The following year, it seems to me that there were no context or no slogan what so ever in all these posters. In the 1989, Tosconi took a photo of a black women breast feeding a white baby. It was one of those weirdest thing i have ever seen in my whole entire life. I have never seen a black women breast feeling a white baby. And I position myself with people from the 90s, and i am sure they were even more shock then i am. Some people would find it disgusting and unnatural. Again , Toscani was playing with taboo, something that are too sacred and too accursed for ordinary individuals to undertake.then again, the message saying we are all the same , the skin doesn't matter , it is still there.But the brand itself was not really promoting its all clothes. It was selling an idea, an idea saying that people have different color and that doesn't matter anymore.
In 2000, Benetton produced another poster , which putted an end to this abstract ideas. The poster was " Sentenced to Death" which were photos of prisoners who will die. This is a very sensitive subjects as death is something that people feel uncomfortable and scary when they think about it. These posters scared people off and they decided not to buy the clothes anymore. Benetton didn't promote any clothing at all, which makes them lose the trust of people.
On the other hand , Toscani and Benetton gave such an incredible impact into this world , and change the people's point of view. People became less discriminate and ignorant towards other people from different background. And that was good advertising all about " Clever, Jaw dropping , eye bulging , pulse racing and tear jerking" .

A video that sum up all the adverts from the 1960s onwards.