UNHATE – edgy marketing, stirring up hate, trying to grab headlines, or a viral stunt?

Benetton launched a new campaign, which I am sure will test the adage, ‘there’s no such things as bad publicity’.

On their website they state that:

The UNHATE Foundation, desired and founded by the Benetton Group, seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture of tolerance, to combat hatred, building on Benetton’s underpinning values. It is another important step in the group’s social responsibility strategy: not a cosmetic exercise, but a contribution that will have a real impact on the international community, especially through the vehicle of communication, which can reach social players in different areas.

Here are screen grabs from the video, which grabbed my attention when I saw it for the first time blazoned across one of their video screen window displays, whilst walking past the Benetton Knightsbridge store, in London.

Now, for those of you that haven’t been to that part of town before, it’s a stomping ground for tourists and especially those from the Middle East. Harrods is down the road and they have previously expressed to me how important high-spending Muslim tourists are. So much so that they have adjusted opening hours to accommodate the culture of shopping much later in the day, which is central to many countries in the Muslim world.

So from the first image, I thought ‘Wow’ a hijabi in a marketing campaign. However, as the video continued I have to say I was shocked!  I am not allowed to show those pictures on this site, but you can see some similar ones from the Benetton UNHATE campaign site here.

Now Benetton have cut their cloth on creating memorable and at times controversial advertising copy, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on what effects, if any this will have on Muslims, Muslim consumers and their consumption? For example, will this creative offend a significant number of Muslims and how will they express their offence, if at all? Will such expressions translate into harming the brand and drops in sales in the short and/or long term? And, could it stretch as far as Muslim countries requesting the closure of Benetton stores?

Beyond this, was there an opportunity to deliver less contentious creative, which would be equally as memorable – but perhaps with more of a positive ‘Muslim’ effect? For example, there appears to be little mainstream creative from many brands, which shows Muslims as passionate, loving and deep members of an integrated society – beyond a token housewife buying tea and cheese.

With these in mind, here are some creatives from Malaysia, which take a different tack:

Also, are they appropriate for non-Muslim countries? In my opinion, I would say yes. With fragmented markets requiring the application of more intricate segmentation criteria, my feeling is that the brands that are willing to take calculated risks in moving away from neutral and idyllic actors stripped of their cultural identities, will triumph. A case in practice of this can be seen with HSBC:

Source: HSBC website, adverts