opinions on benetton campaign by indian ad makers

1. THE Vatican says it is taking legal action to prevent the
publication of a photo montage showing the Pope kissing a
leading imam as part of a Benetton advertising campaign.
The White House slammed the campaign, which also showed US President Barack Obama kissing
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in photoshopped pictures.
A spokesman for Mr Obama, Eric Schultz, said "the White House has a longstanding policy disapproving
of the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes".
The image is part of a new global advertising campaign called UNHATE that contained a series of photo
montages of political and religious leaders kissing.
The statement from the Vatican secretary of state came despite an announcement by the Italian
clothing company that it was pulling the montage in the wake of severe criticism from the Holy See.
The Vatican said its State Secretariat would ask its lawyers "to take action in Italy and abroad to prevent
the circulation in the mass-media and elsewhere of the photo montage produced as part of Benetton's
publicity campaign".
It said Benetton's portrayal of Pope Benedict XVI "is wounding not only to the dignity of the Pope but
also to the sensibilities of the faithful".
Benetton's poster showed Benedict kissing on the lips Egypt's Ahmed el Tayyeb, grand imam of the Al-
Azhar Mosque in Cairo and a leading voice in Sunni Islam.
Al-Azhar slammed the advert as "irresponsible and absurd" and said it was "still hesitating as to whether
it should issue a response", said Mahmud Azab, adviser to the grand imam.
Benetton's campaign has touched a nerve in the Vatican at a tense time in relations between the world's
two biggest religions, with the Catholic church protesting over the growing vulnerability of Christians in
the Middle East.
Relations between the Pope and the Al-Azhar imam have been very tense particularly after Benedict
expressed his solidarity with the victims of an attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria.
The statement was interpreted by Tayyeb as interference and he did not send a delegation to an inter-
religious meeting hosted by Benedict last month.
Obama spokesman Eric Schultz said "the White House has a longstanding policy disapproving of the use
of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes".

2. The image is part of a new global advertising campaign called UNHATE that contained a series of photo
montages of political and religious leaders kissing.
Other photo montages show Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smooching Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas and French President Nicolas Sarkozy kissing German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The posters appeared in Benetton clothing stores across the globe as well as in newspapers, magazines
and on websites.
The company defended the campaign, saying its purpose "was solely to battle the culture of hate in all
its forms".
Following threats of legal action from the Catholic Church, Benetton has removed its ad depicting Pope
Benedict XVI kissing Egyptian imam Mohammed Ahmed al-Tayeb.
The image, which surfaced Wednesday on the Internet, is part of the Italian clothier’s Unhate campaign. The
Guardianreports that within hours, the Vatican had publicly condemned the ad and announced a crackdown
on its continued use.
Press secretary Father Federico Lombardi said: “We cannot but express a resolute protest at the entirely
unacceptable use of a manipulated image of the Holy Father, used as part of a publicity campaign which has
commercial ends.
“It is a serious lack of respect for the pope, an affront to the feelings of the faithful and an evident
demonstration of how, in the field of advertising, the most elemental rules of respect for others can be
broken in order to attract attention by provocation.”
Benetton apologized for causing offense. “We reiterate that the meaning of this campaign is exclusively to
combat the culture of hatred in all its forms. We are therefore sorry that the use of the image of the pope
and the imam has so offended the sentiments of the faithful. In corroboration of our intentions, we have
decided, with immediate effect, to withdraw this image from every publication.”
According to reports, representative from Cairo's al-Azhar mosque labeled the poster “irresponsible and
absurd” although no known comment has been issued from al-Tayeb.
A kiss to nowhere: Benetton‟s Unhate campaign
The idea of Unhate as opposed to universal brotherhood and world peace is provocative. It is, in
its own way, the end of John Lennon‟s Imagine, sadly dialing down that dream to something
much more prosaic. But the images are no longer provocative. As they flash by on subway walls
and billboards, they are, at best, quaint.
They only serve to remind us that the revolution will not be photoshopped. However we can all
go retail shopping instead.

3. When USSR‟s Leonid Brezhnev kissed East Germany‟s Erich Honecker in 1979 that was a kiss.
When Obama kisses Hu Jintao in 2011 that‟s just an ad for Bennetton.
It is a comment on history, but without understanding the history.
For starters, Brezhnev really kissed Honecker. Communist iron men were prone to these
smooches unlike their cowboy counterparts on the other side of the Cold War. Thanks to all
those pogroms and tanks rolling into town squares, they were already secure enough in their
masculinity. But when a graffiti artist recreated that “Fraternal Kiss” on the Berlin Wall, it
became a symbol of protest, the desperate lip lock of a doomed love affair, a death spiral of
suffocating love. It was named The Kiss of Death and under it was the slogan “God, help me
survive this deadly love.”
In 1989 Mikhail Gorbachev came to the GDR. He got the kiss as well. Honecker was a serial
kisser when he wasn‟t terrorising his own people. If you go to the DDR museum in Berlin which
curates odd bits of East German life, you can see that kiss splashed over an entire wall. But in
1989 it was a protocol kiss. The Cold War was ending, glasnost was on its way and passions had
cooled. As the blog Lite Strabo describes it “This one actually meant „my friend, you are alone.‟
Less than one year later, GDR had ceased to exist.”
In 2011 in Benetton‟s version of the united colours of Unhate, Obama kisses Hu Jintao. Chavez
kisses Obama. The Pope kisses an imam. Only Manmohan Singh doesn‟t get to kiss Asif Ali
Zardari. Benetton apparently considered an Indo-Pak kiss but backed away because of cultural
sensitivities and the fear of political backlash. Why Manmohan Singh landing a wet one on
Zardari would be more controversial than Pope Benedict making out with the Sheikh of the Al-
Azzhar mosque is anyone‟s guess. Probably Benetton‟s market surveys indicated not enough
people cared. Certainly enough Indians accuse the prime minister of being too soft on the
Pakistanis. It wouldn‟t have shocked them.

4. But it doesn‟t matter anyway because it‟s not real. Or remotely based in reality. The image is no
longer so important because countless digitally manipulated images like these ones (and far more
provocative ones) circulate every day on the internet. The only reason it is “jaw dropping” is that
a major clothing company like Benetton is behind it instead of some graphic designer with too
much time on his hands.
The only shock value left in those photoshopped images is the fact that it‟s men kissing men.
Ironically a campaign that is about “Unhate” is based on a wellspring of homophobia, relying for
its impact on the chhi chhi factor — a viewer‟s gut level revulsion to the idea of men kissing
men.
And even there Benetton chickened out. Alessandro Benetton said the images were meant to
promote the idea of “unhate” (“which is not as utopian as love”) and should not be seen in a
physical or sexual context. Except the only reason the ads work (if they work at all) is precisely
because they are seen in a physical or sexual context.
In a strange way the only kiss that actually has resonance is the Angela Merkel-Nicolas Sarkozy
kiss because that‟s the only one rooted in any kind of reality. There have been plenty of images
of their awkward “shall we hug, shall we kiss” dance. The Benetton kiss is a cheeky
consummation of the unlikely couple‟s odd romance. We can imagine that kiss and it makes us
squeamish.
POV: Is Benetton's 'Unhate' campaign in good taste?
By Shibani Gharat, afaqs!, Mumbai, November 18, 2011
Section: News Category: Advertising
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The campaign, which features prominent political and religious leaders kissing
each other, is another in the series from controversy's child Benetton.
Whether it is German Chancellor Angela Merkel kissing French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
President Barack Obama pecking his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, or Pope Benedict XVI
smooching Egyptian Imam and a prominent figure in Sunni Islam Ahmed el Tayyeb, Benetton
has clearly created a swirl. afaqs! speaks to industry experts about the Italian apparel brand's
recently launched 'Unhate' campaign, which finds leaders from opposite sides of the political and
religious divide kissing each other, with the underlying message of peace. What we find out is
hate it, 'Unhate it', but you cannot ignore it!

6. Piyush Pandey
Executive chairperson and national creative director, Ogilvy India
I think the entire campaign is sensational and unnecessary. It is certainly edgy, but being edgy
does not mean that you cross limits. A lot of people will say that it is a fantastic way of doing
things, but I feel there are other fantastic ways of doing things.
K V Sridhar
National creative director, Leo Burnett
The participants of Bigg Boss are supposed to behave in a certain way. Similarly, Benetton as a
brand is supposed to behave in a particular way, too. If it does not behave in that manner, then it
would be unique.
One other campaign of the brand showed a blood-smeared baby still attached to its umbilical
cord. As a brand, it has done several such campaigns in the past. But, this time, I feel that it has
done it intelligently. The message that nations/religions should not hate each other has been
conveyed effectively through the best form of expression of adore - a kiss. Leaders are
representatives of the masses. If they would have shown Barrack Obama hugging Hu Jintao, then
it would not have been as interesting. But, this one works and is brilliantly executed.
Ashish Khazanchi
Vice-chairperson and national creative director, Publicis Ambience

7. In good taste or in bad taste is a matter of perspective and from whose eyes you are viewing it. If
it is from the perspective of a 20-year-old, then they will love it. But, something like this cannot
be done in India, where our political leaders, freedom fighters, and religious leaders are demi-
gods. Provocation in the mildest of forms has the potential to form a big controversy.
But, overall, I like the campaign. How many brand campaigns have this kind of tonality and the
kind of media coverage? It has done several such campaigns in the past, some of which include
the 'Blood Kid', and 'All the Colors of the World' campaign that spotlights groups of children of
different colours and races. I feel, with this campaign, it is getting back to the roots and the
controversies that it had created in the 1990s.
I really do not think it wants to promote world peace. All it wishes to promote is a controversy
that grabs eyeballs.
Santosh Padhi
Chief creative officer and co-founder, Taproot India
Benetton has always done edgy work. It strongly believes in this. It is a youth brand, and the
youth really like all this. If it tries to attempt something like this in India, then it will be a totally
different story. Our country is far more sensitive. Hence, its ads here are milder than those
abroad. For example, the ad with the blood-smeared baby still attached to its umbilical cord will
not be appreciated in India.
But, I feel the recent communication speaks the language of 18-24-year-olds, which is its core
target group. It is back with edgy stuff and grabbing headlines.
Arun Iyer
National creative director, Lowe Lintas
It is a controversial ad. But, that is what it is supposed to do -- create controversy. Fifty per cent
of the people will feel that it is in bad taste, while the other 50 per cent will find it interesting.
However, despite the like or dislike, it will induce talk-ability. I think visually, it is supposed to
be debatable, but at a thought level, it is not at all a debate.
The fact that this campaign has been successful in creating a debate is by itself a success of the
brand and its objective. However, it is also trying to push too far.
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8. o Paris Event
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Supports the Unhate Foundation

9. Film
The film UNHATE by French director Laurent Chanez, tells of the precarious balance and complex interweaving between
the drive to hate and the reasons to love.
Unhate Film
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