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The awareness of AIDS increased in the early 90’s. Therefore Benetton raised attention on this upcoming problem. Besides that, poverty, racism and equality were still topics fort their campaigns. It was also around this time that they introduced a new topic for their advertisements, namely violence. This was an important topic since many countries in the East were at war. Again, with their campaigns, Benetton portray their philosophy by using up to date topics, pathos and a certain tone.
Benetton shows their philosophy by using recent topics. During 1990-2000, the company designed campaigns dealing with topics as AIDS, poverty, racism, equality and violence. All these topics played a significant role during those days. For example the HIV campaign dating from 1993. HIV and AIDS were a really big problem, since an increasing number of people suffered from this disease. Benetton wanted to make the public aware of this killing disease and thought that they could warn people with this. Their aim was to reduce AIDS suffering. The” real life “ campaign from 1995 dealt with violence in the world. It depicted clothes covered in blood from a Bosnian soldier called Marinko Gagro. Benetton’s mission statement was to make people aware of the fact that every individual is worth remembering. Someone who dies in war is not just a stranger who bravely died for his homeland, but a victim of senseless violence. Just like before the earlier topics such as equality, poverty and racism were still topics in campaigns, because these problems were not yet solved. Benetton chose to add recent topics in order to strengthen their mission statement.
The brand tries to convey their message by using pathos. Benetton really used images that made people think and gave them something to remember. In the “ Racism campaign” from 1995 this can be seen very clearly. It shows three exactly the same hearts, but the words written on them are different. Even the uninformed audience understands the message of this campaign. Benetton’s goal was to stop racism and to show the world that everyone is the same. No matter what your skin colour, every human has the same heart and therefore we are equal. This campaign won awards and had a big impact on society. They understood that it was time for a big change. Another example of a campaign that appeals to the publics emotions is the” Real life” campaign from 1992 that concerns AIDS. In the advertisement you see a loving family mourning about a family member’s death from AIDS. One can actually feel their emotions and therefore this is a strong campaign that portrays their mission statement really well. They wanted to gain awareness on the subject of AIDS. Because it was a photo on the real deathbed scene, the public was provided with an overload of emotions, both positive and negative. Therefore pathos had a big influence in conveying Benetton’s philosophy.
Benetton made clever use of the tone to spread their mission statement. It was around this time that the tone changed from being slightly controversial to really controversial when looking at the
subjects of the campaigns. For example the “ Hope campaign” from 1991. This campaign again is about the subject of AIDS, however it looks at it from a different perspective than before. In the photograph used in the campaign there is a newborn baby covered in blood with its umbilical cord still intact. The tone of this advertisement is controversial, because these kinds of pictures were never shown in public. It really creates a shocking effect since it looks a bit disgusting. Benetton’s goal was to make people aware of the fact that life is precious. Their mission statement was that we should protect ourselves against diseases such as AIDS. This message cannot be seen directly from the image, however this makes it stronger since we do not understand what we are looking at at first. Another example is the “ Real life” campaign from 1992. This campaign introduces the subject of child labour. Sad looking children carrying heavy bricks are depicted in the photo. This makes the public feel sorry for them. Because child labour is not common in western society, it makes the tone harsher since we cannot imagine what the children in the photo are going through. Therefore Benetton’s mission statement was to make people aware of the fact that there is so much to worry about and that we should look further than our own situation. The campaigns had become more controversial and therefore harsher in comparison to the 80’s.
To conclude, Benetton shows their mission statement by using recent topics, pathos and a certain tone. Just like before the 90’s, the topics that were used for their campaigns were still up to date to strengthen their mission statement. Also pathos is still the important factor in their mission to convey their message. The tone has significantly changed over the course of time. It has become much more controversial as we can deduct from looking at the images of the campaigns.
''.It was also around this time that Benetton introduced a new topic for their advertisements, namely violence ''
'' Benetton's mission statement was to make people aware of the fact that there is so much to worry abound and that one should look further than yourself ''