Land grabbing by elites: How corporations threaten small farmers!

Land grabbing by elites: How corporations threaten small farmers!

Benetton is known worldwide for its colorful clothing and the provocative advertising campaigns that made the company popular in the 80s and 90s. Under the creative direction of Oliviero Toscani, who served as art director from 1982 to 2000, the brand focused on controversial and socially relevant topics. Toscani, born in Milan as the son of photographer Fedele Toscani, developed a series of campaigns that addressed issues such as racism, AIDS and war.

One of his most famous campaigns showed David Kirby dying surrounded by grieving loved ones, raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic. While Toscani relied on complex emotions in advertising, the Benetton brand remains strong in consumers' minds with its stylistic diversity, also thanks to Toscani's ability to incorporate important social issues into his work. However, these approaches were not pursued without controversy, and in 2000 Toscani left the company.

Revenue and land ownership

The Benetton family is not only successful in the fashion industry, but is also one of the largest private landowners in the world. The family controls enormous amounts of land through the Edizione holding company. According to a study by Fian, the ten largest landowners together own around 405,000 square kilometers of land. These areas are used for agriculture and forestry or come from the energy industry.

The Wilmar company, which operates large palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia and Africa, also stands out among the large landowners. In addition, Blue Carbon, founded by Sheikh Ahmed Dalmuk al-Maktoum, acquired 7.5 million hectares of land in Zimbabwe in 2023 for $1.5 billion. This initiative aims to provide carbon credits to help businesses and governments in the UAE reduce their carbon footprint.

Worldwide land concentration

The development of a global trend towards land concentration is worrying. US pension fund TIAA almost quadrupled its global holdings from 328,200 to 1.2 million hectares between 2012 and 2023, including 61,000 hectares in Brazil's highly endangered Cerrado region. German pension funds, such as those from the Westfalen-Lippe medical supply, also contribute to this region. These types of investments have led to the conversion of large areas of land into industrial tree plantations, monocultures and pastures, driving deforestation and environmental degradation.

Since 2000, companies and financial actors have appropriated more than 650,000 square kilometers of land, which is twice the area of ​​Germany. This has serious consequences for food security and threatens the existence of around 2.5 billion small farmers and 1.4 billion of the poorest people who make a living from agriculture. Fian agricultural officer Roman Herre describes this extreme concentration of land as reflecting a dangerous trend in which wealth is being shifted from working people to the elite.

The combination of social responsibility in advertising and the enormous influence of the Benetton family on the real estate market illustrates how complex the topics surrounding the brand and its founders are. Toscani himself often addressed the connection between social justice and cultural issues in his work, while the Benetton family generated new challenges for society with their land ownership.

Oliviero Toscani passed away on January 13, 2025, but his legacy remains alive. Its influence on advertising and the way social justice issues are addressed continues to be discussed and analyzed. The deceased took provocative pictures and repeatedly asked questions about social norms. His legacy is sustained through the dynamic connection between art and business.