Oliviero Toscani

Oliviero Toscani (28 February 1942 – 13 January 2025) was an Italian photographer,<ref>Current Biography Yearbook 1999 Elizabeth A. Schick – 1998– Page 571</ref> best-known worldwide for designing controversial advertising campaigns for Italian brand Benetton from 1982 to 2000.<ref>Prayer Graeme Garrett, Oliviero Toscani – 2000</ref><ref>Tungate, Adland: A Global History of Advertising pp 138–43</ref>

Early life and career

Toscani was born in Milan, and took up photography following in the footsteps of his father, Fedele Toscani, famous Italian photographer, founder with Vincenzo Carrese of the Publifoto photographic agency, then of his own photographic agency (Rotofoto), then photo reporter for the newspaper Template:Lang. After obtaining his diploma at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, he started working with different magazines, including Elle, Vogue, L'Uomo Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

Career

In 1982, Toscani started working as Art Director for the Benetton Group. One of his most famous campaigns included a photo (by Therese Frare) of David Kirby dying of AIDS, lying in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital bed, surrounded by his grieving relatives.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The picture was controversial due to its similarity to a pietà painting and because critics of the ad thought the use of this image to sell clothing was exploiting the victim, though the Kirby family stated that they authorized the use and that it helped increase AIDS awareness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other advertisements included references to racism (notably one with three almost identical human hearts, which were actually pig hearts, with the words 'white', 'black', and 'yellow' as captions), war, religion and even capital punishment.<ref name="drow">Template:Cite news</ref>

In the early 1990s, Toscani co-founded the magazine Colors (also owned by Benetton) with American graphic designer Tibor Kalman (1949-1999).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="theguardian">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With the tagline "a magazine about the rest of the world", Colors built on the multiculturalism prevalent at that time and in Benetton's ad campaigns, while remaining editorially independent from the group.Template:Citation needed Toscani left Benetton in 2000.

A long-term Tuscany resident, in 2003 he created in collaboration with Regione Toscana a new research facility for modern communication called 'La Sterpaia'. In 2005, Toscani sparked controversy again with his photographs for an advertising campaign for the men's clothing brand 'Ra-Re'. Their portrayals of men participating in homosexual behaviour angered groups such as the Catholic parents' association Movimento Italiano Genitori, who called the pictures 'vulgar'.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The campaign came amidst ongoing debate in Italy about gay rights.

Toscani unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for parliament for the new Rose in the Fist party in the Italian general election held on 9 and 10 April 2006.Template:Citation needed In September 2007, a new campaign against anorexia was again controversial due to his shocking photography of an emaciated woman (Isabelle Caro).<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

When Luciano Benetton returned as executive director of the Benetton Group in January 2018,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> he brought along Toscani.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2018, Toscani became a member of Italy's Democratic Party (PD).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2020, Toscani was let go from Benetton Group after he controversially said of the 2018 Ponte Morandi collapse, "Who cares about a bridge collapse?". He was responding to an outcry over a photograph of founding members of a political protest movement alongside key members of the Benetton family. He later apologized for the statement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Toscani suffered from amyloidosis. He was hospitalised on 10 January 2025 at the Cecina Hospital,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where he died on 13 January, at the age of 82.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" />

External links

• Template:Discogs artist
• Template:Imdb name
• The True Colors of Oliviero Toscani from AdAge International
• Oliviero Toscani at Salon
• ANOREXIA. STORIA DI UN'IMMAGINE official info
• The Photo That Brought AIDS Home – slideshow by Life magazine