Benetton’s ‘Unhate’ campaign wins the Grand Prix in the Press category. Plus an extra kiss from GoSee for free

The United Colors of Benetton UNHATE campaign received the GRAND PRIX in the PRESS category. The poster motifs depict high profile figures such as Angela ‘Angi’ Merkel, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy sharing some intimate moments.

Not that new, but effective all the same. The Pope wasn’t too impressed though and the Vatican banned the intimate kiss with the Imam of Cairo. How unecumenical, or should that be uneconomical? But we all know the Pope has such a teasing tongue.

Nevertheless, the campaign, which launched in November 2011 with the UNHATE KISS WALL and UNHATE LIST, had an enormous effect. 500 million users were reached worldwide. In addition to the classic echo in the press – with over 3,000 articles and 600 TV reports in 60 countries – it was also one of the top five trending topics on Google and Twitter in the first couple of weeks and secured Benetton a 60% increase of Facebook fans.

Benetton also simultaneously established its own charitable foundation. The first UNHATE Fondazione action took place in December 2011, when COLORS magazine presented Tripoli, the capital city of Libya, with a sign of peace and hope – the UNHATE DOVE – a large statue in the shape of a dove complete with bullet belt. Peace out.