The Pope Kisses Her Mouth to a Magnet and Chavez to Obama in a Campaign of Benetton

The Pope kisses her mouth to a magnet and Chavez to Obama in a campaign of Benetton

The Italian company Benetton on Wednesday released a photo montage in which the Pope kissing on the mouth to the Sunni imam of Al Azhar, who ended up retiring after the condemnation of the Vatican, as part of a campaign that Hugo Chavez does the same with Barack Obama in the name of fighting “hate.”

The photomontage of Benedict XVI and the imam of the Egyptian University of Cairo, Ahmed el Tayeb, turning a passion kiss was the most controversial of the six included in the advertising campaign ‘UNHATE’ (’Against Hate’), which are heads of state or government in the same position affectionate.

The Vatican was quick to condemn “an unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited as part of a campaign commercial.” “This is a serious lack of respect for the Pope, an affront to the feelings of the faithful, a clear demonstration of how advertising may violate the basic rules of respect for the people to attract attention by provocation,” the Vatican.

Soon after, the Italian textile group removed the image. Benetton said “feel that the use of the image has hurt the sensibilities of the faithful.” “We recall that the meaning of this campaign is only fighting the culture of hatred in all its forms,” ​​he said in a statement a spokesman for the group.

The photomontage of the new advertising campaign of United Colors of Benetton was introduced Wednesday by Alessandro Benetton, group vice president in Paris. But even before began circulating on the internet and came to deploy a giant banner over a short time near the castle of St. Angelo in Rome.

Luca Borgomeo, president of the Association of Italian Catholic viewers, immediately demanded the withdrawal of this advertising. Is it possible that Benetton can not conceive anything better? “He asked dumbfounded.

“This is symbolic images-with a touch of irony and provocation hope constructively to promote reflection on the way in which politics, faith, ideas, although they are opposite and diverse, can lead to dialogue and meditation “Benetton had been justified.

The relations between the Pope and the imam of Al Azhar are complicated, especially since Benedict XVI expressed his solidarity with the victims of the attack that caused 21 deaths in a church in Alexandria on January 1. The magnet had interpreted as interference.

Benetton maintains however the other pictures in the paper that the group’s businesses worldwide. In one, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, wearing tie, kissing on the mouth.

Obama also print a kiss to his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, in front of Milan Cathedral, or vice versa as you read.

In another picture, the so-called Franco-German couple, formed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are given a torrid kiss on the mouth with eyes closed.

The other two images show the controversial Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, doing the same with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as well as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.

The textile group and her photographer Oliviero Toscani shot to fame for his provocative photomontages in 1990 as one in which a priest dressed in black cassocks kissing a nun. Italian photographer openly advocated sexual freedom, AIDS patients and, in general, was opposed to racial or cultural discrimination.

Photograph taken on Wednesday in Paris in which a woman is walking about two Benetton billboards, in photomontage shown kissing on the Palestinian leader and Israeli Prime Minister (left) and German Chancellor and French President ( right).