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It seems a lot of powerful people hate Benetton's new 'Unhate' Campaign ads. The recently unveiled images show world leaders like the Pope and U.S. President Barack Obama kissing their perceived enemies.
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On Thursday, the White House issued a statement condemning Benetton for its provocative campaign.
"The White House has a longstanding policy disapproving of the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes," said White House Spokesman Eric Schultz.
The "Unhate" campaign for the Italian clothing brand showed Obama lip-locked with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a vocal Washington enemy.
The Obama kissing Jintao ad is scheduled to appear next week in issues of Newsweek, New York magazine and The Economist, according Benetton spokesman Luca Biondolillo.
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This isn't the first time a company's come under fire for using the president's image. Last year, The Weatherproof Garment Co. installed a billboard ad in New York's Times Square showing Obama wearing one of its coats.
The billboard was short-lived and subsequently removed from the iconic square.
The controversial new Benetton campaign depicts several other pairs smooching, like the leaders of North and South Korea and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Yet, the most controversial image depicts Pope Benedict kissing a male imam.
Al-Azhar suspended interfaith talks with the Vatican earlier this year after Benedict called for greater protections for Egypt's minority Christians.
On Wednesday, Benetton pulled the ad featuring Pope Benedict XVI kissing a senior Egyptian imam on the lips after the Vatican denounced it as an unacceptable provocation.
Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, called the ad an "unacceptable" and "offensive" manipulation of the Pope's likeness.
On Thursday, Bill Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League, had this to say in a news release:
The damage that Benetton did is done - the offensive photo of the Holy Father and the imam is posted on the Internet. Benetton has a history of not only being edgy, but of being anti-Catholic and vulgar: in 1995, its magazine Colors featured Christmas holiday ads promoting such gifts as a bull's testicles and a metal instrument used to abort unborn children. The Catholic League quickly condemned Benetton at the time.
