Benetton sold jumpers with billboards that rarely showed any clothes
Guinness World Records once listed Benetton for the most controversial advertising campaign. The Italian knitwear firm spent years putting up billboards about race, AIDS and hatred instead of its sweaters, and one poster of a newborn baby drew more complaints to Britain's advertising regulator than any ad it had ever seen.
The Benetton family opened its first shop in Belluno in the Veneto in 1965 and reached Paris three years later. From headquarters at Ponzano Veneto the group built a network of around 5,000 stores selling the United Colors of Benetton and Sisley labels, and in the 1980s and 1990s it was one of fashion's best-known names.
Much of that fame came from Oliviero Toscani, hired as creative director in 1982. He shot the brand's first multiracial advert in 1984 and by 1989 had built the campaigns around the United Colors slogan. Later images included the AIDS activist David Kirby on his deathbed in 1992 and a black woman breastfeeding a white baby. The provocation continued into the 2010s with the UNHATE series of doctored photos showing world leaders kissing; one picturing Pope Benedict XVI was withdrawn after Vatican protests, though the campaign still took a top press prize at Cannes in 2012.
The family also spent heavily on sport. It sponsored Formula One teams from 1983 and bought Toleman to create Benetton Formula at the end of 1985. Under Flavio Briatore the team won Michael Schumacher his first two drivers' titles in 1994 and 1995, along with its only constructors' crown, before Renault bought it for 120 million dollars in 2000. At home, Benetton-backed basketball and rugby clubs in Treviso piled up national championships.
The brand has struggled since, dropping out of Interbrand's top global brands by 2002 and being taken private in 2012. After a 180 million euro loss in 2017, Luciano Benetton returned from retirement at 83, and further losses led in 2025 to plans to close more than 418 stores.
Source: Benetton Group
