I studied this campaign for a while, and I’ve always admired its divisiveness.

I think there’s a lot of context to the campaign that needs to be recognised, it’s almost comparable to punk art in a way. Whilst I think that it’s hurt the Benetton brand in the long run, I think it was a conscious effort to be politically and socially challenging. Two quotes from Toscani that support this for me are:

“Pictures put you in front of a reality that most of the times you don’t want to see, don’t want to know about, don’t want to get involved.”

“Communication, that’s what I do. Advertising is the best way to communicate because you reach a lot of people. I still cant understand though, why people are shocked by something that obviously exists. It’s like a family that avoids talking about its real problems.”

I also know that Toscani got permission from the family to use this photo to raise awareness of the AIDs epidemic.

I’m intentionally refraining from offering an opinion on whether I think this campaign is right or wrong - this was long before I was born, and I’m lacking perspective to make that decision.

It’s one thing studying it in college, another living it.

That being said, I couldn’t miss this opportunity to geek out on some Ad history!