Prize or exploitation?

Remember those great Benetton ads of the 90's?

Sure they may have been controversial but at least they had something to say.

Sadly these days (at least in Australia) we rarely see Benetton ads.

Or are their ads so bland and politically correct we don't notice them?

I suspect it may be.

Their advertising these days tends to feature clean cut people of many races. And not much else.

To ensure they have a constant supply of these cute 'n clean types they're currently running a global casting call competition.

Sounds like fun. Or is it?

Well of course it is but the cynic in me says it's tantamount to exploitation.

In the words of Benetton, "It's not about catwalk cliches and model attitude. We’re looking for natural beauty and fresh faces."

Sounds good. But...

"The 100 highest voted entries get featured in our new book on global style and win 200 euro to spend in Benetton."

200 euro! That's about $300. and a fraction of what they'd pay someone with "model attitude".

But it's not even 200 euro really. It's 200 euro to spend at Benetton.

Call me a grumpy old git, but how much longer are young people going to fall victim to the lures of crowdsourcing?

You might think it sounds good but the only people making any real money from it are the people organising it.