Benetton kissing Pope ads are predictable and rightly refused

By November 17 2011, 11:09 am 5 Comments
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It has been a while since Benetton caused a stink, of the kind that former creative director Oliviero Toscani used to regularly orchestrate, but it has done it with its latest campaign “Unhate“, which depicts a host of world leaders kissing (no tongues). Most notably, and controversially, is its image of the Pope kissing a Muslim Imman on the lips.

The ad is “totally unacceptable”, according to the Vatican, and newspapers and magazines including the International Herald Tribune, the Guardian and Elle Francia have refused to run the ads.

I’m not offended personally, but I can completely see why they have chosen not to run them. They are, however, running elsewhere.

The pope ad has also been called a “grave” act of disrespect” and “deeply provocative” and the Vatican is considering legal action against Benetton.

“This shows a grave lack of respect for the Pope, an offence to the feelings of believers, a clear demonstration of how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people,” said Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s spokesman.

In my mind the ads are needlessly provocative and feel almost prosaic in every other respect other than their controversy. Frankly they have nothing going for them as pieces or advertising, they are artless, cliche ridden acts of attention seeking, that are nothing more than uninspiring photoshop jobs that feel like an idea shoehorned to fit.

If your starting point is controversy rather than a larger idea then what’s the point? I have no idea about the Benetton brand. I always thought its clothes were like Gap, but its advertising tries to be something else.

The Catholic Church should have ignored them, but as they haven’t and so I’m sharing them. What do you think? And please no sweater burning.

As well as the ads the campaign has a large social media element that Benetton is calling the “Kiss Wall” where people can upload pictures of themselves kissing.

There is also a video about spreading “unhate“. The campaign was created by Benetton’s in house agency, Fabrica, based in Treviso, Italy, in partnership with MDC Partners-owned 72andSunny in Amsterdam.

Benetton campaign at http://unhate.benetton.com/campaign

  • Pedro A Murray Priore

    Why the Pope image is more predictable then all other images? Why it boders you more then Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez? Religion have been playing a very strong politic role in the world since we exist, so why not remember us about that?
    We will have different emotions and opinions about those images. At the end of the day, thats the idea. Benetton uses advertising to rise a debate. It promotes a discussion and makes people think. You could say it is bad taste but then, we just have different tastes.

  • Andy Knell

    I don’t see the brand relevance and the campaign is crass. The religous leaders execution is a bigger issue in the context of the current international climate, though overall if the objective (based on the headline) is to somehow spread world peace through provocative imagery and wearing Bennetton clothing(!), it fails miserably. Having the respective leaders hold hands might have been a more appropriate way of creating PR for the brand whilst framing the campaign in a more appropriate light.

    Try asking a Palestinian living under occupation in the West Bank if they enjoyed the representation of their already undermined political leader as appropriate.

    That said, any brand that wants to seriously get behind the concept of world peace for the right reasons, has my vote. The creative industry should be used as a force for good whenever possible.

  • Grilla Login

    The best way 2 show your displeasure? Go into their store + pick up a neatly folded top and open it pretending 2 be looking @ the size on the label. Repeat until there are 0 neatly folded tops… Go back again when they’re all refolded  + repeat the process. If they get huppity with u, tell them u have the Pope’s blessing.

    • Gordon MacMaillan

      Sweater unfolding is a brilliant form of protest and should definitely be encouraged.

      @haymarket-68be84eb7719bae774975104c6ba80b6:disqus the pop image doesn’t bother me any more than the others do. it just had the highest reaction in the press here, but agreed if i was living in the West Bank i would be angry. But i might also think that Benetton has absolutely no relevance in my life. Same for Israelis. Benetton has one store in Israel that only opened in August.

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