Photographer and creator of the United Colors of Benetton Campaign.

I can bet that if you work in advertising you’ve had at least one discussion or argument about Toscani’s Benetton campaign. Either you love it, or you really hate it. Nowhere in the middle.

The world both praised and burned copies of the famous campaign that included kissing nuns and priests, a black woman breastfeeding a white baby and in the end, photos and stories of death row inmates.

Having moved on from Benetton, Oliviero Toscani now consults, teaches, and produces olive oil in Tuscany. His controversial ideas, nonetheless changed advertising rules around the world, and perhaps even to this day, we cannot truly judge objectively what this unforgettable campaign really did. Like his campaign, Oliviero Toscani is not shy about his opinions.

When I interviewed him he warned me beforehand:

“You have to understand that I am not an advertiser, I have never been one. What I did was just an experiment to see if it could be possible to make something interesting in the stupid world of advertising.”

ihaveanidea: Your Benetton ads dramatically changed the advertising world. Do you think advertisers now comprehend why you made the ads you made, or were you simply too ahead of your time?

Toscani: Advertisers are very jealous. They do not care about innovations, the only thing they care [about] is not to lose their budget.

ihaveanidea: If you could change anything about the present advertising industry what would you change?

Toscani: Eliminate it.

ihaveanidea: How is advertising going to change in 10 years?

Toscani: It depends on the intelligence of the people, if we become more intelligent, advertising will decrease, otherwise it will pollute more.

ihaveanidea: What is your best advice to future advertisers?

Toscani: Try to do something more intelligent.