Oliviero Toscani and his controversial but successful campaigns for Benetton

The name Oliviero Toscani, who died today in Cecina, is inextricably linked to that of the Benetton family. For the Venetian brand (currently undergoing a deep crisis and being restructured under the leadership of CEO Claudio Sforza), Toscani created the historic campaigns that defined the global success of United Colors of Benetton.

Oliviero Toscani created the image of United Colors of Benetton from 1982 to 2000

From 1982 to 2000, Toscani created the image, identity, communications strategy and online presence of United Colors of Benetton, making the brand one of the best known in the world. In 1990 he conceived and led Colorsthe first global magazine, and in 1993 he created and led Fabrica, a research center for creativity in modern communications.

“Oliviero Toscani’s goal will be to tell the everyday stories of Jews and Palestinians who live, communicate and work together every day, overcoming the barriers of hatred and differences of race and religion. The images will be shown from September 15 to 23 will be made in Israel, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Hebron, and will be used for the United Colors of Benetton spring/summer 1998 catalogue. Toscani will be accompanied by a team from the news TG3 of the Rai, which will provide exclusive coverage of this route of peace between Israel and Palestine throughout the photographer’s working period,” according to a Benetton press release dated September 10, 1997.

A few months later, the photographer realized another successful campaign, which attracted the attention of the press and the public worldwide. “A red ribbon, symbol of awareness and prevention of AIDS, tied to the underwear of young women and men: this is the image of Benetton’s new international communication campaign, realized in collaboration with LILA, the Italian League for the Fight against AIDS, which will be launched on December 1st on the occasion of World AIDS Day. These are three photographs taken by Oliviero Toscani and drawn by Undercolors, Benetton’s lingerie brand, which offer a witty and clear reflection on the need to to avoid the risks of contamination through prevention,” according to a Benetton press release dated November 27, 1997.

The campaign was published by some of the most important newspapers in Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Netherlands, Slovenia and Serbia. About a year earlier, Benetton had created the official image of the World Food Summit, in collaboration with the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: “A wooden spoon on a white background, symbolizing man’s relationship with food, or with hunger. The most basic instrument to evoke the most ancient action: that of eating. This simple and direct image, created by Oliviero Toscani, will appear on the pages of the most important international newspapers and on posters in the main European capitals, as contribution of the Benetton Group to the communication of the next World Food Summit, which will take place in Rome from 13 to 17 November 1996”. It was October 1996 when the Benettons talked about this initiative.

AIDS, racism, international conflicts and gender-based violence are some of the themes that are also discussed in the magazine Colorsthe first global magazine launched in 1990 and led by Toscani, some of whose covers are shown in this FashionUnited article.

The break with the Benettons

The highly successful creative and business collaboration with the Benettons came to an abrupt end in 2020. On February 6, 2020, Benetton Group announced in a statement the end of its collaboration with photographer Oliviero Toscani.

Benetton, “with its chairman Luciano Benetton, completely distances itself from the statements of Oliviero Toscani on the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, and notes the impossibility of continuing the collaboration with the creative director. Luciano Benetton and the entire company “renew our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to all those involved in this terrible tragedy,” the statement said.

The apology to the relatives of the victims of the Morandi Bridge tragedy, which collapsed in August 2018, was not enough for Oliviero Toscani to end the polemic about his unfortunate statement “Who cares if a bridge collapses”, which he made during the live broadcast of “Un giorno da Pecora” about the visit of the leaders of the Sardines to the “Fabrica” ​​of the Benettons.

The Benetton Group, at the time the largest shareholder of Atlantia, the holding company that controls Autostrade per l’Italia (public again in May 2021 and part of Holding Reti Autostradali spa), subsequently decided to end its collaboration with the photographer.

“I apologize. In fact, I am even ashamed to apologize. I am humanly devastated and deeply saddened,” Toscani said in an interview with The Republic. “I said those unfortunate words, but my sentence was taken out of context.”