FABRICA in collaboration with 72andSunny : “Michaela, 29, Non-Photographer”
New Photo-lead campaign by Benetton recalls some of the stirring campaigns of the 1990s
Benetton’s newest campaign was launched last week. With the creative visual irony that their best campaigns dripped with, this newest project is called Unemployee of the month.
FABRICA in collaboration with 72andSunny
It features a series of portraits of young unemployed captured in poses that are suitably heroic, the visual codes borrowed from classic Soviet-era imagery.
FABRICA in collaboration with 72andSunny
Plus a set of group photos, which could loosely be gathered under the genre/concept of “teamwork” the campaign playfully echoes some of the visual codes we use to heroicize work.
FABRICA in collaboration with 72andSunny
Interesting questions from the floor where journalists asked if this issue of unemployment was no longer something governments could address. Indeed, the project does raise the question of the extent to which what is a social and human problem has economic and political roots.
FABRICA in collaboration with 72andSunny
That said the best Benetton campaigns floated on the contradictions of social messages as advertising. And despite the fact many journalists criticised Oliviero Toscani’s campaigns, the one thing you could accuse and charge them with is being ahead of their time with respect to providing ‘content’ to their communications. This campaign has a practical payoff which involves a donation by Benetton of €5,000 to the 100 projects selected by the UNHATE Foundation community.
