It has always been difficult to determine if the people at United Colors of Benetton are incredibly naive or incredibly cynical. Do they think they are making brave statements with their advertisements — gays wearing tattoos, black men in chains, a company director standing naked to protest NATO inaction over Bosnia — or do they just want to make a splash? Now comes evidence of their calculation and cynicism. Benetton has launched an art school called Fabrica. And who did they ask to run it? Fidel Castro. “I think a school like this is based on revolutionary thinking. So we thought, ‘Let’s ask Castro,'” the Benetton rep told Lingua Franca magazine. Nobody could actually think Castro is right for this job — unless you want to torture and jail a few thousand students for expressing an independent thought or two. But then, the Benetton people aren’t the first to sell their souls for the sake of a few publicity stunts.
