Man dying of AIDS
Poster
1992 (printed)
1992 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is a poster for the clothing company Benetton. Benetton has used ‘global issues’ in its posters since the 1980s. It sees campaigns both as a means of advertising and as a focus for discussing the principal social and political issues of our time. Through their universal impact, the campaigns win the attention of the public and stand out from the general mass of media images. This makes for successful advertising. But their publicity attracts both controversy and acclaim, the latter in the form of advertising prizes. In 1992 Benetton began using already published documentary photography. The image of the dying AIDS activist David Kirby caused outrage, despite the fact that the photograph had already been published and Kirby’s family had given their permission. It was felt that the association of such a tragic image with the sale of jumpers was distasteful.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Man dying of AIDS (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour offset lithograph on paper |
| Brief description | 'Man dying of AIDS', advertising poster for Benetton; Italy, 1992 |
| Physical description | Poster reproducing an image by Therese Frare depicting David Kirby, a gay activist from Ohio, in an AIDS hospice in Columbus called Pater Noster House, surrounded by his family on the day of his death in November, 1990. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Benetton. Copyright Oliviero Toscani/United Colors of Benetton |
| Object history | One of a group of 56 posters donated by the Benetton Group, E.2155 to E.2210-1997 |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This is a poster for the clothing company Benetton. Benetton has used ‘global issues’ in its posters since the 1980s. It sees campaigns both as a means of advertising and as a focus for discussing the principal social and political issues of our time. Through their universal impact, the campaigns win the attention of the public and stand out from the general mass of media images. This makes for successful advertising. But their publicity attracts both controversy and acclaim, the latter in the form of advertising prizes. In 1992 Benetton began using already published documentary photography. The image of the dying AIDS activist David Kirby caused outrage, despite the fact that the photograph had already been published and Kirby’s family had given their permission. It was felt that the association of such a tragic image with the sale of jumpers was distasteful. |
| Associated object | E.924-1996 (Original) |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.2207-1997 |
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| Record created | March 5, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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