We have chosen three posters from the campaign created by the late Oliviero Toscani for the clothing company Benetton. This huge body of work began in 1982 with product photography but as of 1984 an anti-racism message was emerging, and from 1989 the United Colors of Benetton branding made the commitment all-in. In 1991, creativity went into overdrive.
Agency: Benetton / In-House, Milan
Creative Direction and photography: Oliviero Toscani
The “shock and awe” approach of startling provocation led to much criticism and some of the most talked-about ads ever. The industry often criticized Benetton for flouting the rules (and perhaps for not requiring much in the way of an advertising agency). But the work pioneered techniques that laid the very base for such terms as “viral” and “earned media”.
“We consider the poster campaign unacceptable. We are concerned that advertisers are not matching their messages with the mediums they use.”
- Advertising Standards Authority, UK, on Benetton’s Hearts poster.
Toscani and Benetton’s creative prime ran through the 1990s, with offshoots including the Fabrica art school and Colors magazine (both still operating). Toscani was dismissed after the Sentenced to Death campaign, using portraits of US death row prisoners, which was so controversial that it led to the closure of many Benetton stores in the US. He returned in 2017 only to be dismissed again in 2020 for causing further offence.
For all the outrage, many images are iconic and have a strange beauty. Even if Benetton’s anti-racism values did not go deep, it hit audiences directly between the eyes. It didn’t make colored condoms when the poster ran, an awareness-raising image around HIV and AIDS, but it produced a line from 1997. The hearts are from pigs but the point is even stronger: we are all alike under our skin and are very close to other species. And the baby? Well, babies are kind of all the same when born, purple and red, not black and white. United colors, get it?
