Last week, Italy’s new populist government turned away a rescue ship, Aquarius, that was carrying more than 600 migrants, including 120 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women, according to Doctors Without Borders, one of the ship’s operators.

Three ships carrying the migrants, including two Italian Navy vessels, were accepted by Spain on Sunday, which Mr. Salvini hailed as a “victory” for his party.

Italy’s stance has exacerbated the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, prompting the European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to convene an informal “mini summit meeting” about migration ahead of the next week’s European Council session.

Benetton, founded in 1965 as a family company, grew into an international juggernaut with thousands of outlets worldwide and a reputation for pushing the envelope while championing diversity in its images. One of its most famous advertisements is a picture of three hearts with “Black,” “White” and “Yellow” emblazoned across them. The company is now seen as a faded brand in the United States.

The photographer Oliviero Toscani has been behind many of its most striking ads since 1984, including the latest ones. He recently returned as the company’s art director, along with the brand’s founder, Luciano Benetton, in an effort to revive the label’s plummeting fortune. Mr. Toscani was fired in 2000 for an advertisement with an anti-death-penalty theme featuring death-row inmates.

The state of Missouri filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of misleading United States officials to gain access to the inmates. Victims rights groups also protested the campaign and threatened to boycott Benetton products.

Other provocative Benetton advertisements by Mr. Toscani include a nun kissing a priest, an AIDS patient on his deathbed and Pope Benedict XVI kissing an Egyptian imam. The Vatican threatened legal action to prevent distribution or publication of the image.