Benetton’s New Kissing Ads, includes Pope Kissing Imam

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Maura Judkis

Controversial mocked up image courtesy of Daily Mail

FRANCE - Benetton returns to its controversial marketing roots with a new campaign that features photoshopped images of President Obama and other world leaders engaging in a kiss. In two separate ads, Obama is made to appear as if he is kissing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The Unhate Foundation, founded by the Italian clothing company, is an advocacy group for tolerance. The controversial ad campaign is an attempt for Benetton to regain its status from the “United Colors” ads that regularly shocked viewers with subjects that had nothing to do with clothing: A priest kissing a nun, a man dying of AIDS, a just-born baby with umbilical cord still attached, a trio of real human hearts. The most controversial of the [new] pairings has proven to be the Pope kissing Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, the Imam of al-Azhar mosque in Egypt. The Vatican condemned the image, and the company decided to remove it from all publications after complaints. [Watch WP: Slideshow]