Vatican threatens to sue over Benetton's kiss 'n' sell advert
A new Benetton advertising campaign which includes a highly provocative image of the Pope kissing an imam has been condemned as a "grave" act of disrespect by the Vatican.
The Italian clothes company launched a campaign called 'Unhate' in which leaders from opposite sides of the political and religious divide appear to exchange kisses.
One of the pictures, used on billboards, in Benetton shops and on websites worldwide, showed Pope Benedict XVI kissing Ahmed el-Tayeb, an Egyptian imam and a prominent figure in Sunni Islam.
"This shows a grave lack of respect for the Pope and a clear demonstration of how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people," said Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman.
He said the Holy See was considering taking legal action against the fashion company.
The image, which is guaranteed to offend Catholics around the world, briefly appeared on a banner which was draped over the side of a stone bridge near the Vatican, in Rome.
Guerilla
Hanging the banner was part of a series of "guerilla actions", the company said, which included the unveiling in Paris of an image of Nicolas Sarkozy smooching Angela Merkel and the unfurling of a banner outside Milan Cathedral depicting Barack Obama kissing his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao.
"Is it not possible that Benetton could have come up with anything better?" said Luca Borgomeo, the head of the Association of Italian Catholic Television Viewers.
The provocative advertising campaign also included digitally manipulated images of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, locked in an embrace with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader.
Alessandro Benetton, the deputy head of the company, acknowledged that the advertisements were provocative but said the campaign was designed to give publicity to "an ideal notion of tolerance".
"The central theme is the kiss, the most universal symbol of love," he said in a statement.
Benetton is well-known for its publicity campaigns, which in the past have included the image of a nun kissing a priest and parents grieving over a man dying of AIDS.
The clothing company later withdrew the ad.
Benetton had said its "Unhate" campaign was aimed at fostering tolerance.
The photo of the Pope kissing Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb of Cairo's al-Azhar institute had been on Benetton's website all day but was pulled about an hour after the Vatican's protest late on Wednesday. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Nick Squires in Rome
Irish Independent
