Legendary Photographer Oliviero Toscani, Creator of Iconic Benetton Campaigns, Passes Away at 82

Oliviero Toscani, the Italian photographer renowned for his involvement in Benetton’s audacious advertising strategies during the 1980s and 1990s, including an advertisement showcasing a man succumbing to AIDS, passed away on Monday, January 13, at the age of 82.

Having spent two decades as the art director for the fashion brand, Toscani disclosed in August that he was battling the incurable condition known as amyloidosis. “With profound sorrow, we announce that today, January 13, 2025, our cherished Oliviero has commenced his next voyage,” his family stated in an Instagram message, requesting privacy.

Toscani was recognized for his employment of intensely provocative imagery not just to market products but also to highlight societal concerns, ranging from AIDS and discrimination to capital punishment and mafia-related murders.

The most contentious was Toscani’s use of a photograph depicting AIDS patient David Kirby on his deathbed, surrounded by family members, for a 1992 Benetton campaign during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. This initiative led to backlash from AIDS activists and a boycott of Benetton; however, Toscani defended his creations.

In a 2016 discussion with a photography blog, he insisted that a corporation had an obligation to “demonstrate its social awareness and sensitivity to the community surrounding it”.

Benetton honored his contributions on Monday. “To clarify certain matters, words alone fall short. You showed us that,” the company stated, adding: “Farewell Oliviero. Continue dreaming.”

Backlash and Censorship

During his tenure with Benetton – from 1982 to 2000 and once more from 2017-2020 – Toscani’s work received both acclaim and scorn.

This included campaigns showcasing a black woman nursing a white infant, a kiss between a nun and a priest, a still-bloody newborn with an attached umbilical cord, and a variety of colorful condoms against a white backdrop.

In addition to consumer backlash and boycotts, several of Toscani’s Benetton campaigns faced censorship in Italy and France. A number of his other works were likewise controversial – Toscani’s 2007 image for the fashion label Nolita depicting a nude and severely anorexic model Isabelle Caro, who subsequently died from the illness, coincided with Milan Fashion Week. It was featured on billboards bearing the phrase “No Anorexia” across the photograph.

A 2012 calendar he created for a leather consortium in Florence presented 12 penises, following an earlier version using female genitalia. “Photography embodies ethical engagement. I couldn’t care less about photographic aesthetics,” Toscani remarked in August to Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. When asked which image he preferred to be remembered for, he responded: “For the whole, for the commitment. An image alone doesn’t make history; it’s an ethical, aesthetic, political decision made through your work.”

Born on February 28, 1942, in Milan, Toscani was the offspring of a distinguished Corriere photographer and attended art school in Zurich, shortly thereafter beginning his career in fashion photography.

However, Benetton severed ties with Toscani in 2020, following disparaging remarks he made about the 2018 tragic bridge collapse in Genoa that resulted in 43 fatalities. The Benetton family was the major stakeholder in the firm managing the bridge at the time of the incident.