I was certainly taken aback by these Benetton Ads. After I posted one in my previous post I contacted Benneton directly and asked about the ads, especially since Second Chance Emplyment Services helps at-risk women. Anissa Nouhi at Benneton said:
"I would like to inform you that the images you are referring to with thelogo "Domestic Colors of Violence" are a FAKE and are NOT an advertingcampaign of Benetton Group. The ONLY project Benetton has done on domestic violence was in 2003, created and developed by Fabrica (Benetton's communication research center) and Colors Magazine (part of the publishing activities at Fabrica). Please see the attached link for further information http://www.benetton.com/colorspress/56/."
Wow! What a surprise! This was all over the blogosphere. I did more follow ups and thought that Kairos Rae said it best:
"Unfortunately, this brings to light one of the biggest problems with the blogosphere: fact checking. Most bloggers don't make phone calls and are not held under as strict credibility standards as print and broadcast journalists. Bloggers complain about not getting enough respect, and then we go and do things like this. This is a perfect example of running away with a story just because we want it to be true. I'm not trying to point fingers because we all know I totally respect and admire Feministing.com, but let's just use this as a lesson. Fact checking can be an aspect of the blogosphere...and I'm preaching to myself here too."
Other bloggers had the same sentiments such as SAJAforum, Amitava Kumar, Jill Miller Zimon, and others out there in the blogosphere.
This is an interesting way to get the message out there, but why would anyone create FAKES instead of finding or creating a real organization to support these pictures?
