Museum für Gestaltung Zürich Zürcher Hochschule der Künste museum-gestaltung.ch eGuide.ch eMuseum.ch Poster United Colors of Benetton. Oliviero Toscani 1992 1 2 1 Plakat, United Colors of Benetton., 1992, diverse Länder, Gestaltung: Oliviero Toscani, Fotografie: Lucinda Devlin. Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK. 2 Plakat, United Colors of Benetton., 1992, diverse Länder, Gestaltung: Oliviero Toscani, Fotografie: Franco Zecchin. Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK. With his polarizing Benetton campaigns, Oliviero Toscani (b. 1942) demonstrated that even in the field of commercial advertising a new pictorial rhetoric is capable of drawing attention. The photograph of a truck filled with refugees was a vehement cry in the midst of a consumerist public, raising awareness of a completely different reality. The toddler dangling helplessly in the air transfixes the gaze. Some of the refugees are already on the truck, others trying to scale its sides. A throng of people carrying only the bare necessities completely surround the truck. But the reason why they are in flight is not the subject here. The longstanding United Colors of Benetton campaign started with innocuous images of children from around the world. But Oliviero Toscani increasingly radicalized his pictorial message. In the 1990s, he began to show select reportage photos of present-day global sociopolitical events. People’s inevitable encounter with these images on city streets was designed to provoke. Luciano Benetton devised this marketing strategy together with Toscani, thus raising the question of whether it is legitimate to combine business with social responsibility through advertising means. This is a question that is even more pressing today, when there is so much talk of corporate social responsibility, but the issues are rarely aired in public. The photograph Toscani chose for this poster, and one of an overloaded refugee ship on a Benetton poster from the same year, reveal that, even a quarter of a century later, these images have lost nothing of their topicality. Although somewhat disillusioned these days, Toscani continues to call on companies to use their immense advertising budgets to draw public attention to urgent social and political issues. (Bettina Richter) Plakat, United Colors of Benetton., 1992 Erscheinungsland: diverse Länder Gestaltung: Oliviero Toscani Fotografie: Patrick Robert Auftrag: Benetton Group S.p.A., Ponzano Veneto, IT Material/Technik: Offsetdruck 30 × 42 cm Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

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Page 1: museum-gestaltung United Colors of Benetton

Museumfür GestaltungZürich

ZürcherHochschule derKünste

museum-gestaltung.cheGuide.cheMuseum.ch

PosterUnited Colors of Benetton.

Oliviero Toscani1992

1 2

1 Plakat, United Colors of Benetton.,1992, diverse Länder, Gestaltung:Oliviero Toscani, Fotografie:Lucinda Devlin. Abbildung: Museumfür Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK.

2 Plakat, United Colors of Benetton.,1992, diverse Länder, Gestaltung:Oliviero Toscani, Fotografie: FrancoZecchin. Abbildung: Museum fürGestaltung Zürich / ZHdK.

With his polarizing Benetton campaigns, OlivieroToscani (b. 1942) demonstrated that even in the field ofcommercial advertising a new pictorial rhetoric iscapable of drawing attention. The photograph of a truckfilled with refugees was a vehement cry in the midst ofa consumerist public, raising awareness of a completelydifferent reality.

The toddler dangling helplessly in the air transfixes thegaze. Some of the refugees are already on the truck,others trying to scale its sides. A throng of peoplecarrying only the bare necessities completely surroundthe truck. But the reason why they are in flight is notthe subject here. The longstanding United Colors ofBenetton campaign started with innocuous images ofchildren from around the world. But Oliviero Toscaniincreasingly radicalized his pictorial message. In the1990s, he began to show select reportage photos ofpresent-day global sociopolitical events. People’sinevitable encounter with these images on city streetswas designed to provoke. Luciano Benetton devised this

marketing strategy together with Toscani, thus raisingthe question of whether it is legitimate to combinebusiness with social responsibility through advertisingmeans. This is a question that is even more pressingtoday, when there is so much talk of corporate socialresponsibility, but the issues are rarely aired in public.The photograph Toscani chose for this poster, and oneof an overloaded refugee ship on a Benetton posterfrom the same year, reveal that, even a quarter of acentury later, these images have lost nothing of theirtopicality. Although somewhat disillusioned these days,Toscani continues to call on companies to use theirimmense advertising budgets to draw public attentionto urgent social and political issues. (Bettina Richter)

Plakat, United Colors of Benetton., 1992Erscheinungsland: diverse LänderGestaltung: Oliviero ToscaniFotografie: Patrick RobertAuftrag: Benetton Group S.p.A., Ponzano Veneto, ITMaterial/Technik: Offsetdruck30 × 42 cmEigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK