What's
so offensive about this image?
A doctored photo of Pope Benedict XVI showing him kissing Muslim cleric Mohammed Ahmed al-Tayeb (the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo), taken from a series of posters titled “Unhate”. Used as part of an advertisng campaign for clothing company Benetton which show World leaders kissing their apparent foes- Merkel & Sarkozy. Obama & Chavez. Kim Jong il (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North) & Lee Myung-bak (South Korea).
Whilst it appears typical
of Bennetton to try and generate publicity by controversy, it's
in fact the
company's first major advertising push for more than a decade, which
has revived its tradition of using shock tactics to sell knitwear and
coloured denim.
The
Benedict poster briefly
appeared in various locations around Italy before being hastily
withdrawn after the Vatican's outcry. The
Vatican has subsiquently taken legal action to prevent further
distribution or publication of the image. It was the second blow (or
boost depending on your perspective) to the company,
which had to scrap a poster that showed Silvo Berlusconi kissing
Angela Merkel after the controversial Italian leader (and sleaze-master) resigned earlier
this week.
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