PARIS: From the folks who brought us the controversial image in the 1990s of a priest and a nun in a lip-lock comes an even more explosive one that pushes the boundaries of advertising and communication: US President Barack Obama and China's supreme leader Hu Jintao kissing each other flush on the lips.

The jolting, jaw-dropping picture, which is being released all over the world, is part of Benetton's "Unhate" campaign launched in Paris on Wednesday. It's one of a series of six images showing world leaders, including Obama and Venezuela 's Hugo Chavez, France's Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel , and Israel 's Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestine 's Mahmoud Abbas , in a mouth-to-mouth kiss. One photo features the Pope in a lip-lock with Ahmed al-Tayeb, Sheikh of the Al-Azzhar mosque.

Obviously photo-shopped and digitally-manufactured, the images are certain to stun and perhaps outrage the world, something the edgy Italian company is clearly looking forward with both anticipation and apprehension. The company did not seek or obtain permission from any of the leaders featured in the series, but ran the campaign by its lawyers, who returned a "murky" verdict about possible legal consequences, Benetton officials said, citing the companyàs presence in 120 countries with differing laws.

But Benetton scion Alessandro Benetton, executive deputy chairman of the group, who unveiled the campaign in Paris on Wednesday before the world media, maintained that images were meant to promote the idea of "unhate" ("which is not as utopian as love") and should not be seen in the physical or sexual context. "The images are very strong, but we have to send a strong message. We are not wanting to be disrespectful of the leaders…we consider them 'conception figures' making a statement of brotherhood with a kiss," he said in an interview. Even as he was speaking, the kissing images were being unveiled across the world in New York , Rome , Tel Aviv and other cities where Benetton has a strong presence.

Benetton officials indicated that the company had also considered using images of Indian and Pakistani leaders in the campaign but deferred the idea due to possible cultural sensitivities and a potential backlash. "It never got to any advanced stage," one company official said. Benetton has 415 outlets in India, including 70 slated to open in 2011.

A lean, athletic man with a relaxed demeanor, Alessandro Benetton is not unfamiliar with the company’s legacy of pushing the boundaries although he considers himself a "outsider" who was doing an MBA at Harvard and building his own career on Wall Street in the 1990s when Benetton hired Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani to shoot images (used in billboard ads) that created a firestorm.

The images included, among others, the deathbed scene of a man with AIDS, a collage of genitals of people of various races, pictures of inmates on death row and a black horse mating with a white horse. In each case, the company’s logo served as the only text accompanying the images, and the campaign became a textbook study of image-building.

But the scion Alessandro, 47, says he is not influenced by the campaign from the previous era (the founding forbears are in their 60s and 70s). Nor are the current images as shocking as they were at that time, the internet being full of such subversive material. While maintaining that the unhate campaign is merely "deliberately strong but not provocative", he hopes it won't engender hate because that is not the intent. "Negative reactions will come from negative hearts," Benetton insisted.

The final call, Benetton said, will come from public feedback and general reaction since the campaign is being unveiled over social media. But the company has already unleashed a beast on the newly-created "unhate" website, which will have software tools for visitors to pick many public figures (including Indian cricketers, Benetton officials joked) and show them in a clinch.