(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Italian clothes company Benetton backed down and pulled a photo montage showing the pope kissing a leading imam from its new global ad campaign on Wednesday after the Vatican issued a stern condemnation.
The company, which is no stranger to controversy over its advertising campaigns, said it was "sorry that the use of the image had so hurt the sensibilities of the faithful".
The statement came shortly after the Vatican expressed "the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father".
Benetton's poster showed Pope Benedict XVI kissing on the lips Egypt's Ahmed el Tayyeb, imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and a leading voice in Sunni Islam.
It launched Wednesday a new global advertising campaign called UNHATE.
Al-Azhar slams pope-imam kiss ad as 'absurd'
Al-Azhar, whose grand imam was pictured kissing the pope in a photo montage by Italian clothes company Benetton, on Thursday slammed the advertisement as "irresponsible and absurd."
So absurd was the concept that the institution -- Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning -- "is still hesitating as to whether it should issue a response," Mahmud Azab, adviser to Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayyeb, told AFP.
Azab said he wondered if this type of campaign was "in fact dangerous for universal values and freedom of expression as understood in Europe."
For its part, the Vatican said Thursday it was taking legal action against Benetton, despite the Italian clothing company agreeing on Wednesday to pull the photo, saying it was "sorry that the use of the image had so hurt the sensibilities of the faithful."
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