Okay...I decided to finally weigh in on this. I do not have an overly technical understanding of anodize, but what I do have are a plethora of high level industry contacts NOT associated with Benelli. I've discussed anodizing with multiple people in the industry regarding thickness, surface growth and propagation, all that jazz, and what it amounts to is that type III anodize, black, can and will show color variance even among the same batch. It's all about the witch brew of chemicals, time, current, surface hardness and specific alloy, and other factors involved. Brighteners, surface treatment, all manner of things go into anodize type III and will influence it. As long as it meets thickness and hardness spec, this is cosmetic. If you don't like it, I don't blame you. But a company sets the "drift" they will accept, and then moves on.
Did Benelli lower their ano "cull" rate and allow for increase in drift?
Did the Benelli anodizer have "a moment" and change the brew in some way?
Is the "age of the internet" and sales volume just exposing a drift rate that has always been at a constant? (Let's be honest, how big was this forum in 2008?)
That, I cannot answer. But it's not necessarily indicative of bad QC or anything else, unless you would have Benelli trash the receivers instead of sell them, in which case you would need to position yourself on their board or whatever and make that decision. The anodize on these is quite likely just fine, technically, but with a bit of color drift. Anodizing is a science that is also a art. Instead of explain all of this, CS reps got a bit creative I think.
If you do not like the blue, again, I don't blame you. I don't. That said, I am not upset at Benelli over this, nor do I think the ship is sinking.