Danny Tran
1/28/15
Dual Enrollment
5th period
Today’s World: Diverse Yet Similar Benetton is a group best known for its reputation that consists of shocking advertisement that sparks controversy and debates all around the world. As a result, this helps to promote their brand recognition of Italian fashion. In the 1980s, a world famous photographer, Olivero Toscani, created Benetton’s first multiracial campaign slogan called “United Colors of Benetton.” Later on, Benetton started the movement toward more controversial subjects such as AIDS, racism, and religion. The ad by Toscani of three hearts of the same color with different names that over laid them exemplifies this interest in controversy. Instead of having a caption that tells what the ad means, Toscani created the image to where it questioned the viewer. People should treat others with the same equality despite their appearance. The ad of three hearts creates discussion because people view the image differently from others. Benetton purposely does this in order to integrate opposites and differences to unite under one nation. When you view the image generally, you see the three hearts aligned next to each other in a row. The placement of these hearts on a flat surface makes them seem similar because the flat surface helps eliminate any misconception the viewer has in trying to distinguish the hearts. In addition, the color of the hearts enhances the similarities between the three. To add more detail, Toscani inserted the words white, black, and yellow in order from left to right onto the hearts. These words can be understood in many ways. A regular person looking at this picture will interpret that the words on the hearts represent different skin colors and draw a connection to human diversity. This one piece of evidence that backs up the theme of this ad which is, “Benetton = Equality.” The highly effective font Toscani uses in this image puts emphasis on the different colors. He chooses to use large black font and he also makes them all capitalized. Toscani chooses black because he had to take the colors of the hearts and the contrast into consideration when creating this advertisement. He knew that choosing black made the words more noticeable; therefore, the first thing the viewer sees. The color black stands out much better when in front of a lighter color such as red or orange. When we see the colors white, black, and yellow alone, we tend to just think of them as colors rather than relating them to skin. But in this image, even though similarities exist such as the identical hearts or the font size and color, we can still separate them by race without determining their origin.
This shows that discrimination towards a race other than your own still exists in today’s society. In most cases yes, discrimination continues to exist by the actions of people. But, for other cases it maybe a mental conflict. I classify discrimination as a mental conflict because it still remains possible that you could discriminate unconsciously. Discrimination does not always have to refer to race but it could also concern religion, sexuality, or intellect. There are numerous amounts of things or ideas a person could discriminate about. People are so quick to profile an individual outside of their ethnicity whether because of prejudice or a stereotype.
The picture intends to persuade the viewer that everybody is similar on the inside even though they look different. We want the same equality and the same goals to live a free and normal life. Our cultures, values, and norms may be slightly different or even completely different but they all have
