In Italian clothing label Benetton’s ideal world, foreign dignitaries from opposing sides would lock lips. Think American president Barack Obama kissing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas hugging Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or North Korean leader Kim Jong-il smooching South Korean president Lee Myung-bak. Benetton actually took the concept to heart, making it the subject of its controversial “Unhate” ad campaign, which features political enemies getting a little too close for comfort.
The Italian apparel company debuted the ads yesterday at its flagship Paris store — much to the chagrin of the world leaders it featured. White House spokesman Eric Schultz told the Huffington Post that, "the White House has a longstanding policy disapproving of the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes." The Vatican spoke against the image the company created of pope Benedict XVI kissing Egyptian imam and Sunni Islam leader Ahmed el Tayyeb. "This shows a grave lack of respect for the Pope, an offence to the feelings of believers, a clear demonstration of how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people," said Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, in a statement.
The “Unhate” campaign is now planned to go on billboards, in Benetton retail outlets, and on Web sites around the globe, and the image of the pope and the imam has already been briefly hung from a Renaissance stone bridge near the Vatican as a part of a guerilla marketing ploy to display the ads where the featured leaders are based, according to the Daily Telegraph.
"The central theme is the kiss, the most universal symbol of love, between world political and religious leaders," said deputy head of the company, Alessandro Benetton, in a statement.
Benetton isn't breaking new ground here — making opponents kiss is an age-old method of provocation, from cartoonist Art Spiegelman's 1993 New Yorker cover showing a black woman and Hasidic man smooching during the height of the Crown Heights riots to Madonna's canoodle with a saint in her "Like a Prayer" video. Russian art collective the Blue Noses have turned the trope on its head with the group's famous "Kissing Policeman (An Epoch of Clemency)," showing two Russian cops making out.
This isn’t the first time Benetton has stirred controversy. In the past its ads have depicted a nun kissing a priest and parents grieving over a man dying of AIDS.
Click on the photo gallery above to see images from Benetton's "Unhate" ad campaign.