I was recently contacted by United Colors of Benetton about their proactive contribution to the youth non-employment issue, The Unemployee of The Year communication campaign. Hard hitting, isn't it? As a brand we all know and love it is exciting to see that Benetton have – under the aegis of the UNHATE Foundation – have created something to spark conversation and challenge clichés that a shocking number of our youth have to deal with each day. Stigmas and all. We're not just talking high school students without a job anymore, but 'youth' of my own age and those into their late twenties. With the viral video (above) and now-standard hashtag (#unhate), the campaign has turned into a contest which invites young and non-employed people between the ages of 18 and 30 to submit outlines of potential projects that could use UNHATE's support. Within the UNHATE Foundation mission, their ideas must lead to concrete social impact in their community. The outlines for projects in different areas (including artistic projects) will be submitted to the UNHATE Foundation website and will be voted by the online community. Their choice of the 100 most deserving projects will receive support from the UNHATE Foundation and, of course, have their projects turned into reality.
“The new United Colors of Benetton communication campaign presents a realistic portrait of today’s society by actively tackling a current problem, that of youth non-employment and the potential conflict between generations, in order to show it in a new light and create value for the immense human capital of young people”, said Alessandro Benetton, Chairman of the Benetton Group. “We can’t change the world but United Colors of Benetton wants to use its voice to champion young people and celebrate their strength and value”.