A series of advertising art by Oliviero Toscani made Benetton, a latecomer to the brand, known worldwide. Toscani was responsible for Benetton’s advertising for 18 years, from 1983 to 2000. He created a legendary advertisement and won international advertising awards during that time. He was highly regarded as a contemporary art form and exhibited in museums even if he received various criticisms (Ellinwood et al., 2018).
The advertisements of Benetton are to make communication with individual people beyond the product by using only the image. Hence, they got the consumers not by selling the products directly but by targeting people with similar socio-cultural views (Ellinwood et al., 2018). Toscani did not feature any products in his advertisements and represented the world’s social problems with a single photograph. It differentiated itself from other brands. With no product and no copy, the advertisement was sent worldwide, which had a considerable impact.
However, sometimes the emphasis on impact has led to protests. For example, American Apparel’s advertisement also uses Toscani’s technique, but many criticisms can lead to sexual problems. It is easy to build gender stereotypes for people through advertisements, so creators need to keep a balance of impacts.
As the legacy of Toscani, he created a new way of advertising. Without using the product but making a massive impact through the visual information, which is one photo.
References
Ellinwood, J., Rabolt, N. and, Miler, J. (2018). Benetton’s Corporate Image. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc