Unhate Campaign (2011)
An Invitation Not to Hate in Order to Combat the Culture of Hatred[edit]
The UNHATE advertising campaign was launched and promoted by Fabrica, the communication research centre sponsored by the Italian brand Benetton Group. The project UNHATE, meaning “against hatred”, is a series of provocative photomontages representing the theme of the kiss as a universal symbol of love, exchanged between some of the great world political and religious leaders: Barack Obama and the Chinese leader Hu Jintao, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, Pope Benedict XVI and the Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Closeness between peoples, faiths, cultures, peaceful understanding of the others’ reasons are the guiding principles of this communication campaign. These symbolic images of reconciliation -which were the cause of debate at international level- are used to prompt a reflection on how politics, faith and ideas, even if diametrically opposed, must lead to dialogue and not to hatred. The campaign is part of a much wider project aiming to promote a culture of un-hate against physical, social, political or ideological borders.
