Sickening

Now you know Wolfie isn't one to bad mouth a brand because of a difference in opinion but I had to remind you of this Benetton fiasco in 2000. Just in case you'd forgotten why you boycott the damn company. Their shirts aren't even that nice.

An Italian clothing company, Benetton, has chosen to feature death row inmates in the latest in their series of tasteless advertising campaigns. The campaign is expected to last throughout 2000 and will feature 26 murderers and their commentary on life. While Benetton tries to improve their poor market share in the U.S., they are causing unnecessary pain and distress to the families of the innocent people killed by the men the campaign intends to "humanize".

In one article, Benetton USA Executive Vice President Carlo Tunioli admitted that to the company, the campaign has little to do with the morality of capital punishment. It's all about marketing, he explained. "There's no correlation between these guys" he said, gesturing to 5-feet-high portraits of David Leroy Skaggs (2 counts of 1st-degree murder) and Bobby Lee Harris (1st-degree murder) "and our sweaters. In terms of an advertising strategy, what we are really doing is building brand awareness."

In another - "We're not the only ones using emotion for commercial gain," Toscani told USA Today in 1995, around the time a court ordered Benetton to pay damages to French citizens infected with the HIV virus, saying the company exploited human suffering.

Here are case histories on some of these killers who are the new spokespersons for this clothing manufacturer. Hopefully the U.S. sales for this company will slump even farther in response to this outrageous action.

At least 45 innocent victims were murdered by the 26 killers. Let's focus on why these murderers are on death row and humanize their victims instead of the killers.

Caution: don't read case histories if you can't deal with tales of inhumanity. I almost thew up my lunch.