Oliviero Toscani is an Italian photographer best-known worldwide for designing controversial advertising campaigns for Italian brand 'Benetton'. Most of these advertising campaigns were composed of rather controversial photography, usually with only the company logo "United Colors of Benetton" as a caption.
Toscani played more than ever on the contradictory note of duality, that "dividing line between two waters." E.g. war/peace, flirtation/sex, beauty/pollution. Such posters had an ethical dimension, but refused to impose a moral. The messages were ambivalent, and left viewers free to come up with their own answers to the questions they raised.
Oliviero Toscani pursues this :
"I am not here to sell pullovers, but to promote an image.”
“Advertising is the richest most powerful form of communication in the world- we need to have images that make people think and discuss”
Benetton's advertising draws public attention to universal themes like racial integration, the protection of the environment, Aids, Religion, Sport, travel, war, and health through a maximum of images and minimal texts.
Toscani’s photographs consisted of “shock images to startle us” such as a cloud of multi-coloured condoms, multi-coloured dead leaves floating on the surface of an oil spill, or rows and rows of crosses in an American cemetery. Shifting from a serene, positive aesthetic sense to negative backgrounds (the beauty of rich colors verses the black of the polluted oil spill.)
"The purpose of advertising is not to sell more. It's to do with institutional publicity, whose aim is to communicate the company's values. We need to convey a single strong image, which can be shared anywhere in the world." Luciano Benetton.
Toscani played more than ever on the contradictory note of duality, that "dividing line between two waters." E.g. war/peace, flirtation/sex, beauty/pollution. Such posters had an ethical dimension, but refused to impose a moral. The messages were ambivalent, and left viewers free to come up with their own answers to the questions they raised.
Oliviero Toscani pursues this :
"I am not here to sell pullovers, but to promote an image.”
“Advertising is the richest most powerful form of communication in the world- we need to have images that make people think and discuss”
Benetton's advertising draws public attention to universal themes like racial integration, the protection of the environment, Aids, Religion, Sport, travel, war, and health through a maximum of images and minimal texts.
Toscani’s photographs consisted of “shock images to startle us” such as a cloud of multi-coloured condoms, multi-coloured dead leaves floating on the surface of an oil spill, or rows and rows of crosses in an American cemetery. Shifting from a serene, positive aesthetic sense to negative backgrounds (the beauty of rich colors verses the black of the polluted oil spill.)
"The purpose of advertising is not to sell more. It's to do with institutional publicity, whose aim is to communicate the company's values. We need to convey a single strong image, which can be shared anywhere in the world." Luciano Benetton.
http://www.museedelapub.org/pubgb/virt/mp/benetton/pub_benetton.html
1 comment:
I liked it... i failed to see the heart felt side of this subject due to the surface level reaction i have to this industry... I think yay to Toscani! down to fashion... ist pigs ha ha ha
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