by Dr. Henning Hartwig
The permitted usages of trademarks and logos in branding are in a process of transition, and this extends, above all, to global advertising campaigns. Over a period of years, Italian fashion retailer, Benetton, invented and then refined the art of the shock advertising campaign, with billboard campaigns that won attention the world over. Images such as the "Oil-Covered Duck" underlined the evils of pollution, while "HIV POSITIVE" posed a question about the role of AIDS patients in society that the courts have been attempting to solve ever since. From the 1989 debut of "Breastfeeding" and "Handcuffs" and continuing through to the present with 2003’s "Food for Life", the startling images were Benetton’s key platform in the careful campaign to build its mark, UNITED COLORS OF BENETTON.
