Attorney General's News Release

February 2, 2000

Nixon launches campaign against Benetton ads

Jefferson City, Mo. — Attorney General Jay Nixon today accused Benetton, an Italian apparel manufacturer, of glorifying convicted murderers in its new advertising campaign and of misleading prison officials regarding the true nature of a request to interview Missouri inmates on death row. Benetton's new ad campaign features death-row inmates from throughout the country and four Missouri death-row inmates, including one who killed a highway patrolman 15 years ago.

"This ad campaign is launched on the backs of innocent victims who have suffered incomprehensible loss," Nixon said in a letter to the CEO of the company in Treviso, Italy. Nixon outlined to company officials the underlying offenses that landed the murderers on death row, including the death of the highway patrol officer James Froemsdorf, and the way that murder and now this campaign has affected his widow and their three children.

Nixon also described the crimes of the other murderers, including Christopher Simmons, who abducted a woman from her home, used duct tape to restrain her and dropped her into a river to drown.

"The public also deserves to know about your poster-boy Steven Parkus, who in addition to the murder of his cellmate, has a long history of violence toward women, including the rape of a prison teacher ... I am certain the women who suffered these indignities are equally grieved by the capitalistic ad campaign that comes at their expense," Nixon wrote.

Nixon said he is investigating the nature of the requests from Benetton to prison officials to determine whether the company made false statements and entered the prison under false pretense.

"It appears they were not honest about how the interviews would be used and made efforts to mislead officials regarding the commercial use of the interviews," Nixon said.

Nixon said a letter to prison officials from Speedy Rice, a professor at Gonzaga School of Law in Spokane, Wash., indicated the project was sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and made no mention of its use in an advertising campaign.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818