'Hallyu' interests Benetton chief

Benetton Chairman Alessandro Benetton

By Kwon Ji-youn

Benetton Chairman Alessandro Benetton said he has been impressed by Korea’s growing cultural influence as well as its great market potential.

“Apart from Korea’s extraordinary capabilities in industry and innovation, I have a great appreciation for its growing cultural influence in the world,” Alessandro said in an email interview with The Korea Times.

“I appreciate its forms of expression, its cinema, its avant-garde art and also its pop music,” he said.

He noted that a famous Korean pop star took part in the United Colors of Benetton’s most recent fashion campaign.

Benetton Korea’s casting of a pop star, singer BoA, as the first Korean model for the fashion brand, caught the country’s attention. It also recently cast eight-year-old Korean actress Gal So-won as the new face of Benetton Kids.

This marketing strategy is a reflection of Benetton’s new approach: “to cope with international competition, which in recent years has become more and more aggressive.”

The apparel maker’s controversial advertisements and campaigns have undoubtedly played a large part in publicizing the brand.

Its “Unhate” campaign was launched in November 2011 by Alessandro’s father Luciano Benetton, the founder of the company. The campaign caused quite a stir, especially the image in which late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is kissing former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

The campaign, which featured digitally altered pictures of world leaders kissing, was aimed at battling hate.

“Many of our campaigns are strongly remembered in the collective mind. This also means that their message has become something of a global heritage,” the chairman said.

“During the last 30 years we have seen a positive evolution when it comes to racial prejudice. I’m not saying that that’s thanks to us. What can be said, however, is that, together with many others, we chose the right side to be on,” he added.

According to Alessandro, the Unhate campaign’s message was simple, though expressed ironically.

“We certainly can’t ask everyone to love each other, but we can fight so that nobody hates each other.”

He believes the reason the series has led to so many debates is because hate is still a very efficient governing and consensus-building tool.

“In fact, it is a tool that politics and religion haven’t wanted to give up on so easily,” he said.

Benetton took over the chairmanship of Benetton Group from his father in April 2012.

Since then, the campaign he was most involved in was “Unemployee of the Year,” which was considered less provocative and controversial than previous campaigns. It marked a turning point in Benetton’s strategies.

“For the first time ever, we did not limit ourselves to just talking about issues. We wanted to transform communication into concrete action,” Benetton said.

He said the company invited young people from all around the world to present, in an online contest, projects that the Unhate Foundation would have gone on to support. He calls the campaign “performative.”

To handle other changes in business and strategy when he took the helm of the company, Benetton decided to start from scratch, so he went back to his extensive collection of older fashion.

He kept everything, even a 25-year-old Ralph Lauren jacquard polo shirt and cowboy boots from the 1980s. He fell in love with flea markets, where he would “find that fabulous, unique things that cost almost nothing.” He still has the Carhartt Ranger Jacket that his first roommate gave him, and that was already 30 years old when he received it.

“I think it’s important to keep track of where you’ve been,” he said. “It helps to measure how far you’ve traveled and figure out who you are.”