United Colors of Benetton celebrates racial diversity in ‘The Face of the City’ campaign
United Colors of Benetton has explored the faces and racial mix of major cities around the world for its latest campaign, which sees the brand create a ‘face’ of different cities around the world based on the racially diverse faces of the people who live there.
Created by 180 Amsterdam ‘The Face of the City’ global campaign aims to highlight United Colours of Benetton’s heritage of social commentary as well as the brand’s latest clothing collection.
For the ad United Colors of Benetton and 180 Amsterdam investigated the ethnic make-up of Milan, London, Tokyo, New York, Paris and Berlin, and used statistical, demographic analysis as well as city-specific census reports, to accurately reflect the proportion of each city's specific racial mix, through features such as skin tone, the shape of the eyes and nose, hair type and colour, as well as overall face shape.
The team then visited each city to collect portraits of the people who call each city their home.
Al Moseley, president and chief creative officer, 180 Amsterdam, said: “It feels like the right time for Benetton to remind the world that diversity is indeed beautiful.”
The campaign breaks today (5 February) across print, out of home, digital and in-store.