WODR, Benetton and Toscani: A Closed Chapter?

After a firestorm of criticism, a squandered marketing agreement with Sears that was potentially worth $100 million, Benetton and Oliviero Toscani announced that they were parting company. Some of the media reports described it as a firing while others seemed to take at face value the assertion that the parting was mutual. Certainly Benetton had paid a price for their enthusiastic embrace of corporate advocacy. Would the same be true for Toscani? Media reports portrayed him as unconcerned--he still had his position with Talk Magazine and he was still one of the darlings of European society, having recently been hired by the city government of Venice, Italy to produce a series of ads to discourage day tourism in that city.

As we consider the lasting impact of WODR in American advertising history and American popular culture, we might ask some of the following questions:

1. Was the WODR photo essay a failure?

2. Was WODR merely a cynical attempt at shockvertising or an honest attempt at corporate advocacy