Oliviero Toscani, the publicist who revolutionized the world with the controversial Benetton campaigns, dies

The Italian photographer and publicist Oliviero Toscani, who revolutionized advertising with his provocative campaigns with the Benetton fashion brand, died this Monday at the age of 82, due to the incurable disease he suffered from, Italian media reported.

Toscani was hospitalized in intensive care at the Cecina hospital last Friday and was no longer conscious. His wife declared it was “a road of no return.” He suffered from amyloidosis, a rare disease that he himself had mentioned in an interview published in the newspaper Corriere della Sera last August.

Groundbreaking advertising campaigns

He revolutionized advertising with his art, especially with the groundbreaking advertising campaigns for Benetton that talked about racism, religion and other social issues and that caused great controversy.

He was the son of a famous photojournalist from the Corriere Della Sera, he was born in Milan in 1942 and studied photography and graphics at the Zurich University of the Arts from 1961 to 1965.

His images went around the world

From 1982 to 2000 he created the communication strategy for the fashion brand United Colors of Benetton, transforming it into one of the best-known brands in the world with its provocative campaigns with images that went around the world such as a priest and a nun kissing, a a black woman breastfeeding a white child, or a terminally ill person with AIDS.

In 1990 he created and directed the art journal Colors and in 1993 he conceived and directed Fabrica, a research center for creativity in modern communication. From 1999 to 2000 he was creative director of the monthly magazine Talk Miramax in New York directed by Tina Brown.

Founder of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture

Toscani was one of the founders of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, taught visual communication at several universities, and has written several books on communication.

Since 2007 Oliviero Toscani started Razza Umana, a photography and video project about different human morphologies and conditions, to represent all expressions, physical, social and cultural characteristics of humanity.

For almost thirty years he participated in the project: New Italian Landscape, a project against the degradation of Italy. Toscani’s work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the Milan Triennale and in modern and contemporary art museums around the world.

He has won numerous awards, including four Golden Lions, the UNESCO Grand Prix, the Affichage Grand Prix twice, and numerous awards from Art Directors Clubs around the world.