Benetton Bites Back

Italian clothing giant Benetton says a gruesome new campaign aimed at forcing the company to boycott Australian wool is "unjustified and defamatory". Benetton said the US-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was using the company's high-profile name to give international visibility to its own cause. Benetton is one of a number of multi-national clothing companies targeted by PETA because of its refusal to boycott Australian wool.

"PETA has decided to improperly use the prominence of the Benetton brand, associating it - in a self-serving and speculative manner for which the association will be called upon to respond - to crude images that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Groups activities of clothing manufacturing and distribution," Benetton said in a statement.