Holiday Catch Up: Benetton's 'unemployee of the year' campaign

United Colors of Benetton is following up its controversial "unhate" press ads that featured political leaders kissing, with a global campaign based around a "unemployee of the year" competition

The 'unemployee of the year' campaign includes a TV ad that features four young adults, tagged as "Neets" (Not in Education, Employment or Training) searching for a job with dignity despite the stigma attached to unemployment.

Watch the film here:

The in-house campaign, created in conjunction with the brand’s in-house research centre Fabrica, features unemployed people dressed ironically in business clothes to highlight the stigmatisation of unemployment.

The ad will be broadcast globally on MTV and on digital channels in more than 35 countries.

Print and social media activity featuring photographs and videos will support the TV campaign.

The creative has been designed to draw attention to the brand's "unemployee of the year" competition, which is inviting unemployed people between the ages of 18 and 30 to submit outlines of projects that will have a concrete social impact on their community.

Project ideas will be hosted on the brand’s Unhate Foundation website and voted for by the online community with the 100 most deserving projects receiving support from Benetton to make the ideas a reality.

The "unemployee of the year" campaign follows on from the brand’s controversial "unhate" campaign that featured an image of Pope Benedict XVI kissing Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb and won a Cannes Lion Grand Prix for press. 

This article first appeared on Campaign UK