Kissing

Benetton, which has already earned their place in the advertising world with their clever, colorful and often controversial ads, released another powerful advertising campaign called ‘Unhate‘ to promote tolerance and combat hatred. It features professionally manipulated images that show unlikely pairings of world leaders kissing one another, and I must say whoever did the photoshopping is damn good at it.

“The central theme is the kiss, the most universal symbol of love, between world political and religious leaders, such as: Barack Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao; Pope Benedict XVI and Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb, Imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo (the most important and moderate center for Sunni Islamic studies in the world); the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These are symbolic images of reconciliation – with a touch of ironic hope and constructive provocation – to stimulate reflection on how politics, faith and ideas, even when they are divergent and mutually opposed, must still lead to dialogue and mediation.”