Raksha Sachdev’s recently posted a blog commenting on ethics in marketing. She argued that United Colors of of Benetton’s ad that depicted Pope Benedict XVI and Egyptian figure head Ahmed El-Tayeb sharing a kiss was “extremely unethical”. I disagree with Raksha, who argued that it disrespected both religion and homosexuality.

I do believe that this clothing brand challenged the views of many popular religions, and that some may have found this offensive, but I believe this was more of a risk done by the company, so they could share their views and support for the gay community. I feel the timing of this ad must be considered as well. Lately there has been lots of debate over whether gay marriage should be allowed, and a media frenzy recently broke out over the famous Chick fill-A incident where the president outwardly said he did not support homosexuality. United Colors of Benetton knew that this ad would cause some controversy, and I don’t really believe that to be a bad thing. They are showing their support and wanted people to start talking about them, and this strategy is clearly working for them. I don’t believe Raksha looked at the whole picture when critiquing this campaign.

(Raksha Sachdev. One Kiss too Far, An Example of Unethical Marketing. blogs.ubc.ca. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/rakshasachdev/>)