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Benetton’s ‘Unhate’ ad campaign spotlights Photoshopped images of world leaders kissing, sparks outrage from Vatican
An Italian luxury clothier is getting heat for an ad campaign featuring Pope Benedict XVI locking lips with an Egyptian imam.
The Benetton ads are in keeping with the company’s tradition of using unorthodox marketing and socially-conscious messages to sell scarves and sweaters.
The ads also include PhotoShopped images of President Obama kissing his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
But Benetton’s so-called “Unhate” ad campaign, launched Wednesday, generated an immediate and angry rebuke from the Vatican.
“This is a grave lack of respect for the Pope,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said of the photo manipulation that shows the Pope smooching Egyptian Imam Ahmed el Tayyeb.
Photoshopped image shows President Obama kissing Hugo Chavez.(Courtesy of Benetton)
Lombardi said it was not only offensive to the “sentiments of the faithful,” but “a clear example of how advertising can ******* elementary rules of respect for people in order to attract attention through provocation.”
Benetton apologized, but has no plans to alter the campaign.
“We are sorry that the use of an image of the pontiff and the imam should have offended the sensibilities of the faithful in this way,” the company said in a statement.
On its website, Benetton explained that the “Unhate” promotion “invites us to consider that **** and love are not as far away from each other as we think.”
