GERMAN COURT RULES BENETTON ADS ILLEGAL
By Adnews Staff
An ad campaign by controversial Italian clothing marketer Benetton Group S.p.A. was recently ruled illegal in Germany. In giving its decision, an appellate court said that "anyone who exploits feelings of pity in such an intense way for commercial interests violates competition law." Benetton appealed after a German group, The Centre for Fighting Unfair Competition, won in court when it sued to stop the ads. These lower court decisions were made in 1993-94. The campaign in question has three ads appearing on billboards and in magazines. One shows an oil-drenched bird, another child laborers in Latin America, and a third a bare male buttock stamped with the words "HIV Positive". Earlier this year a French court ordered Benetton to pay $32,000 in damages to French people infected with the HIV virus. Currently a number of German retailers are suing the Italian company, claiming its advertising lost them business because it caused consumers to boycott stores. So far Benetton has won most of these cases, but a lot of them are being appealed. While the anti-Benetton forces say the company is being exploitive, Benetton itself says it is just trying to highlight social ills.