Marketing and Ethics (United Colors of Benetton) Essay Example

Often regarded as a leader in the multinational marketing industry, United Colors of Benetton continues to face the challenge of effectively marketing clothes across racial, cultural, and religious borders. Renowned for using social issued-themed pictures to promote its brand, Benetton has strayed from traditional marketing techniques to provide customers with an idea of the many issues that plaque societies from continent to continent. This unique approach has been met with extreme emotions, and people have both praised and damned the Benetton advertisements. Although the advertisements often are considered controversial, photographs that feature such images as human suffering and sexual organs continue to grasp the attention of the world media. Benetton's focus on universal campaigns that represent different races, cultures, and lifestyles, often in direct opposition to acceptable standards, has become a concept used by companies that choose to maintain a common worldwide image. As a company that is based largely on outsourcing, subcontracting, and relationships developed between a large company and several small producers and distributors, Benetton's success has become an example for multinational business around the world Benetton's ability to maximize profit and to minimize expenses has played a large role in its foundation. The retail market is not served directly by the company but by investors who purchased the right to sell Benetton items in their stores. Therefore, Benetton is a "pure manufacturer," providing only clothes and use of the Benetton names to franchisees. Benetton's focus on creating an integrated relationship between the parent company and its licensees is further reflected in its efforts to speak personally to each consumer through the company advertisements. By using pictures of social issues that are familiar throughout the world, Benetton's advertisements appear to establish an intimate connection with all consumers,