Volkswacht Bodensee - Italy's Benetton ad photographer Toscani dies: family

The Milan-born photographer, who spent two decades as art director for the knitwear retailer, revealed in August he suffered from the incurable disease amyloidosis, in which abnormal protein deposits develop in the body, and had lost 40 kilogrammes.

"With great sadness we announce that today, January 13, 2025, our beloved Oliviero has embarked on his next journey," his family said in a statement on Instagram, asking for privacy.

Toscani spent the prime of his career pushing the envelope in advertising, using viscerally shocking images to draw attention to social themes from AIDS and racism to the death penalty or mafia killings -- and sell products.

Most controversial was Toscani's use of a photograph of AIDS sufferer David Kirby on his deathbed, surrounded by his family, for a 1992 Benetton campaign during the peak of the health crisis in the United States.

The campaign sparked a backlash by AIDS activists and a boycott of Benetton, but Toscani stood by his work.

In a 2016 interview with a photography blog, he maintained that a company had a responsibility to "show its social intelligence and sensitivity to the society around it."

M.Betschart--VB