Oliviero Toscani and his successful advertising campaigns for Benetton

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

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

From 1982 to 2000, Toscani created the image, identity, communications strategy and online presence of United Colors of Benetton, transforming the brand into one of the most recognized in the world. In 1990, he designed and directed Colorsthe world’s leading magazine, and in 1993 he designed and directed Fabrica, a research center for creativity in modern communication.

“Oliviero Toscani’s goal will be to tell the ordinary stories of Jews and Palestinians who live, communicate and collaborate together on a daily basis, overcoming barriers of hatred and differences of race and religion. The images will be taken in Israel, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Hebron, from September 15 to 23 and will be used for the United Colors of Benetton spring-summer 1998 catalog. Toscani will be accompanied by a team from the TG3 television news of Rai which will document, exclusively for the duration of the photographer’s work, this itinerary of peace between Israel and Palestine,” we can read in a Benetton press release dated September 10 1997.

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

In 1990, he designed and directed Colors and in 1993 he designed and directed Fabrica

The campaign was published by some of the leading newspapers in Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Serbia. About a year earlier, Benetton had produced the official image of the World Food Summit, in collaboration with FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: “A wooden spoon on a white background, symbol of man’s relationship with food, or with hunger. The most basic tool to recall the oldest gesture: that of feeding. This simple and direct image, created by Oliviero Toscani, will appear on the pages of the main international dailies and will be displayed in the main European capitals, as the Benetton group’s contribution to the communication of the next World Food Summit, which will be held in Rome from November 13 to 17, 1996. It was in October 1996 that Benetton presented this initiative.

AIDS, racism, international conflicts, gender-based violence are some of the themes also covered in the magazine Colorsthe world’s first magazine launched in 1990, designed and edited by Toscani, some of whose covers are reproduced in this FashionUnited article.

The break with the Benettons

The successful creative and entrepreneurial collaboration with the Benettons came to an abrupt end in 2020.

On February 6, 2020, through a press release, the Benetton group announced the end of its collaboration with photographer Oliviero Toscani.

Benetton, “with its president Luciano Benetton, by completely dissociating itself from the statements of Oliviero Toscani concerning the collapse of the Morandi bridge, takes note of the impossibility of continuing the collaboration with the creative director. Luciano Benetton and the entire company renew their sincere solidarity with the families of the victims and all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy,” the statement said.

The apologies presented to the families of the victims of the tragedy of the Morandi bridge, which collapsed in August 2018, were not enough for Oliviero Toscani to end the controversy with this unfortunate phrase: “Who cares that a bridge collapses”, pronounced during the live broadcast “Un giorno da Pecora” regarding the visit of the leaders of the Sardines movement to the “Fabrica” of Benetton.

The Benetton group, then the largest shareholder of Atlantia, the holding company which controls Autostrade per l’Italia (which became public again in May 2021 and is part of Holding Reti Autostradali spa), therefore decided to end its collaboration with the photographer.

“I apologize. Even more: I’m ashamed to apologize. I am destroyed humanly and deeply saddened,” Toscani said in an interview with The Republic. “I said these unfortunate words, but my sentence was taken out of context. »

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.it. It was translated and published in French. The translation was carried out using an artificial intelligence tool.