Home › 30. A forged picture of Grand Shaykh of the Azhar and the Vatican Pope triggers a crisis in Italy

30. A forged picture of Grand Shaykh of the Azhar and the Vatican Pope triggers a crisis in Italy

Sun, 2011-12-04 17:37 — Diana

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Year: 
2011
Week: 
46
Article number: 
30
Article pages: 
3
Date of source: 
November 18, 2011
Author: 
Hind al-Sayīd Hānī
Reviewer: 
Usāmah Wadī‛
Article summary: 

An advertisement of the Italian clothing company Benetton featuring Pope Benedict XVI kissing the Shaykh Al-Azhar has provoked a storm of angry reactions in Italy and the company was forced to remove it almost immediately.

Article full text: 

The ad is part of Benetton’s so-called “unhate” campaign which, according to the Italian retailer, is aimed exclusively to combat the culture of hatred.

The campaign features digitally altered photos of world leaders kissing each other on the mouth, including President Obama with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

A spokesman for the Vatican, Reverend Federico Lombardi called the Benetton photo a “totally unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father”. Lombardi added that the image is an "offense against the sentiments of the faithful" and evidence of how advertising can "violate the elementary rules of respect for persons in order to draw attention through provocation."

[Reviewer's Note: News story was also covered in Sawt al-Ummah, Page 20, November 21, 2011 and has no link online.]

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Fulltext type: 
Summary
Quality: 
The article contains no obvious errors...
Classification: 
News reporting
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