Bennetton the Italian clothing company should apologise for a disgraceful digitally enhanced publicity shot of the Pope kissing Sheikh of Al Azhar Mohammed Ahmed Al Tayeb which I reproduce reluctantly as evidence of the disgusting outrage.
While Bennetton have a noble past in various well meaning charitable publicity campaigns a picture of two leading religious individuals in the world kissing each other on the lips in a distorted picture is deception and flagrant insensitivity towards Islam and Catholicism. As the Independent point out this is unlikely to revive the flagging fortunes of Bennetton.
Many will take the view that this is all a bit tongue in cheek (no pun intended) however, in practice it is a violation of the Pope and Sheikh of Al Azhar along with the wider Catholic and Muslim community which is why I applaud the Vatican for taking such strong and understandable exception.
To me this advert is essentially insinuating that religion equals hate, and that the anti-hate is homosexual love.
ReplyDeleteBenneton have sold taste, tact and real marketing skills for a pink pound. Can't see it working out for them to be honest.
I think the ad is about getting people's attention and they've succeeded in that sense. However, I do think it is disrespectful of Benetton to portray the two religious leaders this way. Both Christianity (Catholicism in this case) and Islam do not accept homosexuality as a way of life.
ReplyDeletethis is a sacrilege! total offence to the Lord's religion
ReplyDeleteHmm...as a non-Catholic Christian who identifies as part of the gay community, I guess this particular ad doesn't push the "offensive" buttons for me,
ReplyDeleteIt is WEIRD though, isn't it? And pretty disrespectful - not so much for the homosexual content, which I'm sure is cringeworthy to some people but doesn't bother me - but for the basic idea of taking world leaders, both secular and religious, and manipulating their images in this way. It's not even an artistic statement; it's a clothing ad. I'd be a lot more forgiving if this was in a gallery somewhere. Instead you've got a clothing company treating the most respected members of society as if they were underfed models in a skeevy Terry Richardson shoot.
Jasmine - I don't know that they're insinuating that "anti-hate is homosexual love." Or, at least, they're not being genuine about it. I think it was all very calculated, the idea that most of the couples depicted would be same sex. I imagine that idea is where the ad idea originated from. But I don't think these ads are making any sort of radical, pro-equality statement...I think they're just banking on people getting offended and therefore getting the company more airtime in the media. Which is extremely demeaning to those of us who actually ARE fighting for things like marriage equality. It's very exploitative.
As for the "pink pound" bit - I don't know how it's been received in the gay community in Britain, but in the US Benetton certainly hasn't made any friends among gays and lesbians. We think it's pretty tacky too.