Don’t kiss, but do tell
The picture above displays Benetton’s a/w 2011/2012 collection.
The picture below displays an image of a campaign run by Benetton called UnHate ( that “seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture of tolerance”).
Whilst the top image hasn’t provoked anything (not even the dullest fashionista has pointed at any of those peachy colored outfits with a dreamy expression); the picture of the Pope and the Iman kissing has created a small revolution (that has ended up with the photo being censored retired).
That the man dressed in white in the picture has so much power is boring. That he cannot take waking up to a universe where a picture of him kissing a man from another religion is boring (and bigot-like). That the company put it out knowing how polemical it would be and knowing they would choose to take it down is boring. That a campaign about tolerance puts up with this intolerance is boring. What companies do for SCR is boring. That we are all going nuts over it is boring, too.
Now, I’ve heard about green washing (“hey, our company is being attacked by eco-freaks, why don’t we organize a program where we give recycled bicycles to children in Africa without a carbon footprint?”); I’ve heard about pink washing too (“huh, looks like our cosmetics used by millions of women have carcinogenic ingredients in them. Why don’t we organize marathons all over the world with pink shirts to raise awareness of breast cancer?”).
But I had never heard about punk washing: “we have boring clothes in a very competitive market. Why don’t we make the most of how intolerant Christian leaders are and just let it all bloom”?
What I don’t get is why Benetton, who are behind Fabrica (an “applied creativity laboratory, a talent incubator, a studio of sorts in which young, modern artists come from all over the world to develop innovative projects and explore new directions in myriad avenues of communication, from design, music and film to photography, publishing and the Internet”); and behind Colors magazine (latest issue is on “Shit”) have this great breach between their talk (fabrica, colors, unhate) and their walk (United Colors of Benetton).
Which is the real Benetton? The arty, social, political, bold one? Or the peachy, correct, stone-washed one?
Why can’t Benetton sell T-shirts with these two gentlemen kissing in their stores?
