The great return of Oliviero Toscani at Benetton

The creative partnership between Oliviero Toscani and Benetton, which lasted from 1982 to 2000, has shaped the world of communication, transforming advertising in a way to talk about the problems of the world, racism, hunger, death penalty, AIDS, religion, sex , war, violence.

For the company, the Venetian photographer has created new images, hypnotic, often shocking that have marked the history and consciousness of many.

Now, seventeen years after their last collaboration, Toscani and Benetton return to join forces for a new campaign focused on the concept of integration, as they show the two preview images.

The first represents the class of an elementary Italian school composed of children of different backgrounds.

"There were 28 schoolchildren from 13 different countries, and four different continents" - explains Toscani at The Guardian - "They studied together, they were educated together and they will shape future society".

Interviewed by WWD he continues:

"I think the big problem of society today is integration, if you don’t understand the huge problem of integration, we are going to miss the point. A company like this lives on integration, we are present worldwide, we have to understand everybody, all this kind of discrimination, racism is ridiculous".

In the second shot a group of children is gathered around the teacher reading Pinocchio.

Not a random book, but a clear metaphor as the photographer emphasizes: "Pinocchio, this is our Bible, our Messiah, Pinocchio is fake news".

To those who ask if people will understand the meaning of the campaign and if the collaboration with Benetton will continue Toscani replies:

"Of course, they will understand … I don’t know, I live day by day. You cannot really plan your enthusiasm, if you do it, you mediocritize the quality and the quantity, but you know you want to do it. This is of course my wish and will, but you cannot plan creativity".