for years i enjoyed seeing the huge Benetton adverts plastered on bus stops, metro stations, billboards, etc.
they were refreshing not because they were often sensual but because they dared tackly taboo subjects.
in any case they caused quite a stir - but on my recent month trip in Europe i saw nary such a Benetton billboard or if i did it was not remarkable enough to drag my attention to it.
Wassup with Benetton - turned PC?

Can't answer your question, but as an admirer of Benetton ads myself, I would have called their campaigns pc in the extreme. Very One Worldish, pro-diversity, pro-gay, pro-environment. All good things!

Wassup wth Benetton?

They're in business to sell clothes - not moronic, trite propaganda. And they've become crap at selling clothes.

Only Gap among the world's 50 largest apparel retailers (a group that won't include Benetton for very long at the current rate of progress) has such a grisly record of declining sales over the past year. They also (I've done business with them, or rather refused to do business on their terms) have what can only be described as an Italian (ie non-existent) attitude to ethics. They've actually told me to seek bribes from suppliers.

They've put their energy into pointless, expensive (and, given their encouragement of corruption, downright hypocritical) ads rather than clothes people want to wear. So their sales are collapsing. So they can't afford any more of these stupid, onanistic, tributes to their collective egos.

Wonderful thing the free market. The moment businesses turn their back on what customers want, they're forced to stop doing things customers don't give a four sheet poster about.

I'm not sure about the ads, but I agree that the clothes are not as well made as they used to be. They've become trendy and cheaply made.

Perhaps the family feud affected the esprit de cour of the company?

I believe Benetton also runs the Italian Autostrada...or am i thinking of someone else.

Onanistic?

Benneton Ad
Photo: Cashmere sock
Caption: Happiness is coming!

Well, you can always go over to Treviso and check out their flagship store-that is where the family based company HQ is located.

Flanner has a point since, despite my admiration for the ads (certainly more imaginative than the soft core porn that parades as advertising nowadays), I've never bought a thread of Benetton clothing.

But then I'm more a Marshall's, Old Navy, Target kind of guy. Gotta save the pennies for travel somehow...

I didn't even know they were still in business. In the past few years, any Benetton shops in the US I knew of have closed. Are they still marketing much in the US?

There's a huge Benetton store in Georgetown, in Washington, DC, and others in the area as well at various malls-they are still quite viable.