The clothing company Benetton ran advertisements in the magazine Stern that showed no product. One showed a duck covered in oil. One showed children at work in the Third World. One showed a naked body stamped with the words “H.I.V. POSITIVE”. On 6 July 1995, the Federal Court of Justice banned the magazine from printing the ads, because they were unfair competition. Its reasoning was this. A company that uses images of severe suffering to arouse pity for competitive purposes, without any objective reason, violates good morals in competition. The ads aimed only to create a mood in which consumers would side with the company.
On 12 December 2000, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned the rulings. The ads were protected as expressions of opinion.