Chopard Watches Painful to Watch! Does Hublot's mo

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The battered face of F1 head Bernie Ecclestone features in a new advert for the Swiss watch brand Hublot following his mugging in London in November. The 80-year-old features in an ad with the tag-line ‘See what people will do for a Hublot’.
The advert was attacked by the group Victim Support. "Everyone reacts differently to crime,” a Victim Support spokesman told the BBC. "Although it appears Bernie Ecclestone can make light of the incident and get on with his life, for many victims of mugging the impact can be devastating, leaving them fearful to leave the house and unable to move on.”
Oh dear. So how does Hublot explain its approach? Speaking on the BBC the Hublot CEO, Jean-Claude Biver explained how he thought the advert expressed his company's social responsibility: “We have other responsibilities than to show people nicely with nice faces and bottom.. I think luxury has entered another [period] and has other responsibilities.” I didn't realise luxury watch brands had a responsibility to show designer posteriors, but leaving that aside, what is the new responsibility the Hublot CEO thinks he is exhibiting with this advert?
“I believe that to show what people can do and to fight against violence is also one of our responsibilities” he explained. When asked by the BBC presenter how it was so, he said “it says sympathy to Bernie. Bernie is a little bit like Churchill in the last war.” Perhaps Mr Biver was attempting humour, in which case he is luxury's Mr Brent in The Office TV series.
Unfortunately he said nothing about how this advert helps fight violence, simply saying “advertisement can sometimes be an educating tool.” So what is his company's effort against violence?
The key issue for the company is the impacts and contributions of the stuff Hublot is made of - the precious metals and precious stones. With that in mind, I looked around Hublot's and LVMH's website about what they are doing on this issue.
Years after social and environmental responsibility has been accepted as mainstream concerns by many fashion and accessories companies, and in a world where 15% of global capital,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], including investors in Hublot's parent company, have expressed their commitment to seeking responsible performance from invested companies, Hublot today has nothing on its website about the social or environmental qualities of its materials or operations. Nothing, not even a speck of greenwash. The sum total of Hublot's efforts at responsibility reported by the parent group LVMH is the installation of solar panels and energy efficiency measures in their Swiss factory (LVMH 2009 environment report).
Given that Hublot's watches, such as the red gold 'Big Bang' watch, use gold, this lack of attention to ethical supply issues is a concern. The Associated Press has previously reported that about 5% of gold coming into Switzerland, and likely then being sold to luxury watch brands,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is from bush mines in Western Africa, where children are employed in terrible conditions, using poisonous mercury in their very hands to separate the gold. To me that is violence. Meanwhile other companies are working hard at sourcing fair trade gold from safe mining practices. If there is a will, there is now a way of creating decent work in safe conditions for miners,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and thus for jewellery and watches to make a positive different to those involved in making them, throughout the value chain. The great efforts being made by the brands JEL and Brilliant Earth on fairtrade gold demonstrate progress can be made. The sponsoring of fairtrade gold initiatives by Tiffany and Cartier, shows that large brands are also interested in these developments.
The journalists reporting on the Ecclestone advert wondered whether it might harm watch sales if people worried about being mugged for them. “Perhaps Swatch will run a rival campaign with the untouched and still beautiful face of some model and the slogan 'Get home safely with a Swatch'”, said the Financial Times.
Mr Biver of Hublot agreed that “it can be counterproductive, and if so that's good, if finally people don't want to wear luxury because they are afraid of robbery then, why not, because at least we will have helped people not to buy. Today we have to be careful, we have to be aware of the danger of insecurity in our world.” As Hublot is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the luxury group LVMH, I wonder what Bernard Arnaut thinks of his staff saying such things about his shareholders' assets. Perhaps he knows its just loose comments from a man who thinks it is just a bit of fun to be in the news. Instead he may see that this advert is not demonstrating a new ethic at all. Rather, it is actually an example of the old aim of luxury brand advertising - to tell people that something is desirable and valuable, by whatever means necessary. Therefore the Victim Support spokesperson complained that "Hublot is a luxury brand which seems to be making light of crime in order to sell a product.” Indeed, and contradicting himself, the Hublot CEO told the BBC at one point that this form of advertising “sells watches”. To do that by exploiting violence and then seeking cover through saying its all just a bit of fun, suggest something is seriously wrong at the heart of some luxury companies today.
The Hublot CEO's confused mutterings on the subject shows no sense of the reality and the humanity of issues of inequality and social strife that drive violent crime; when pushed he sees this just as a joke. That kind of infantile and arrogant engagement with social issues may in the long run damage not only the individual brands that do it, but the sector as a whole. Yet perhaps that is a side issue, because what it misses is the potential of famous prestigious brands to have a positive effect in society, through creating decent work and preserving the environment, and promoting more conscious customers. There is a massive opportunity for luxury brands to lead in this area,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], if they approach it properly.
This advert is the latest in a series of stumbles by an LVMH brand as they try to present themselves as something more than superficial. First, Louis Vuitton had to withdraw their adverts suggesting that their bags were hand-stitched, when they are not. That was an attempt at reflecting growing interest in authenticity and craftsmanship. Second was their new bag campaign featuring rockstar Bono and wife Ali Hewson landing in Africa with LV bags, where a fee from every bag goes to charities in Africa. That was a bit rich, coming on the heels of LVMH's impact on the pro-African brand Edun, established by Hewson. In setting up Edun, Bono's wife was demonstrating how Africa is a place of creativity and industry, a place to engage with. It was a message of everyone's dignity, not a few celebrities' charity. Since LVMH bought into Edun, Africa is depicted as a charity case. They switched most production to Asia, and tell us nothing of who makes their stuff or in what conditions. To make up for that, Louis Vuitton now offers some charity to Africa. Its good that the money raised will go to initiatives to help capacity build the cotton industry, but what of the workers and communities that make the LV bags in Asia or Latin America? Only by providing decent work in sustainable enterprises will people's lives be improved in the longer term, whether in Africa, Asia or anywhere. Just as LV cant pretend through smooth ads that its bags are handmade, so it cant pretend through relatively small donations that its bags are ethical. Responsible business is about how you make your money, not how you give it away. It's time LV got some better advisors about responsible business, and social development. Unless, of course, they think respecting others and the planet is just this season's fad.
That many of LVMH's brands do not appear to know exactly what they are doing when it comes to social issues, suggests there needs to be a cultural transformation in what has until now been a rather self-congratulatory industry staffed by elites.
Many investors believe that how firms deal with social and environmental issues is a litmus test for how smart they are in general. I'm not a financial analyst, but you get my drift?
Or am I being too tough on Hublot? What do you think?
[You can see see the advert here: ]