I’m not against controversial ads. Just last week I argued against  banning the Marc Jacobs’ Oh, Lola! ad. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the Benetton Unhate ads just aren’t right.

United Colors of Benetton habitually courts controversy with campaigns about AIDS, racism and violence. They’ve shown a dying AIDS victim, a freshly delivered baby, condoms arranged like the Olympic flag and a man with a spoon instead of a forearm. Polarising ads of this nature establish Benetton’s edgy credentials – a cunning marketing move because Benetton clothing is actually rather bland. Benetton’s branding, rather than its clothing, distinguishes it from its knitwear rivals.

If you’ve not been following the controversy, the Unhate campaign supposedly promotes tolerance and coexistence. The video ad does this through cutting shots of increasing violence with ever more passionate kissing. It shows a variety of violent scenes in reference to ongoing events. The Occupy movement and perhaps the London riots are there with an angry white boy flipping off the world in front of a housing estate, and a shot of riot police confronting protesters backlit by flames. The Arab Spring pops up with a helicopter shot of men in keffiyehs burning a car and shaking a banner in a town square. Three white boys attack a cute black boy in the street, crowds clash in a nightclub, jarheads shove each other for no reason. Social inequality, political repression, racism, homophobia and old-fashioned random violence all make appearances.

In Benetton land there’s clearly one solution to this problem: lots of kissing. If only those silly people were more promiscuous we’d be rid of pesky violence. Jump into a lake and kiss underwater! Get naked on a couch! Caress each other’s shoulders! To save mankind, you must lick each other’s faces!

Sadly, there’s no ban on stupid advertising. The campaign billboards are another matter. They show political and religious leaders kissing their enemies. Witness President Obama locking lips with China’s President Hu Jintao. Gasp as Israel’s Netanyahu kisses Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas. Gag as Angela Merkel shares a moment with Nicolas Sarkozy.

The most controversial poster shows the Pope kissing the Grand Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque. Vatican relations with Egypt have been strained ever since the Pope called for greater protection of Coptic Christians in Egypt, leading to Egypt’s recall of its ambassador to the Holy See. The image also plays into popular perceptions of inevitable conflict between Christians and Muslims. The Pope threatened legal action to protect his image and Benetton removed the billboards. Interestingly, there hasn’t been much reaction from the Arab world.

There’s something unsavoury about the Benetton suggestion that conflict comes from mindless dislike rather than geopolitical realities. Merkel and Sarkozy argue about massive European debts. Abbas and Netanyahu fight because they want the same land. These are real and complex problems and they matter. For Benetton to suggest that a hug and a kiss will resolve them is naïve. It’s not the sixties any more, Benetton. Grow up.

Having made my opinion abundantly clear, what do you think? And if you want an ad that won’t send the blogosphere into fits of disdain, brief the Exchange.