THE hills are alive ... with the sound of Merkel.

The Bavarian Alps provided the perfect backdrop for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Barack Obama to share in a scenic moment during a tour of the Elmau castle in Kruen, Germany, at the 41st G7 Summit.

But one picture of the close pair has captured more attention than the summit itself, with striking similarities to the Sound of Music.

The setting for this Obama/Merkel summit looks…familiar…somehow. pic.twitter.com/6Mhvo1igkh — Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) June 8, 2015

And while the expressive photo has gained the attention of online pranksters, creating a meme storm not seen since “the dress”, it has angered a community that reaches far and wide.

That community is one that the city of New York has recently shamed in a new campaign by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), New York’s transit system, aimed at instructing men to keep their legs in check when riding the subway.

They call it, “manspreading”. And it’s spreading in more ways than one.

And while it is not clear if Obama was in fact giving the legs a bit of breathing space at the time the picture was taken, it has opened the issue as wide as the president’s legroom.

So bothered is the MTA over the junk in its trunks, they spent a whopping $75,000 in advertising to convince men to keep their legs in check.

“Dude ... Stop the Spread, Please”, reads the campaign.

"Madame, move your bags. It's a space issue." Where is THAT sign? #manspreading pic.twitter.com/G5kB4QbBdd — ChrisRayGun (@ChrisRGun) June 7, 2015

The issue has become so curly, two Latino men were arrested on the subway last month on charges of “manspreading”.

“…Volunteers observed that police officers had arrested two Latino men on the charge of ‘man spreading’ on the subway, presumably because they were taking up more than one seat and therefore inconveniencing other riders,” read a Police Reform Organising Project (PROP) report.

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressing outrage at president Obama manspreading to take up an entire bench. pic.twitter.com/iX3qVtH8yw — Peter Yoachim (@PeterYoachim) June 9, 2015

It’s an interesting irony, that at a meeting of the world’s most powerful leaders, social traction deems a manspread more enticing than the reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.

Could this be the epitome of first world problems?

In case you’re curious, here’s what you may have missed from the Summit:

— Obama says the US has no ‘complete strategy’ on ISIS defence.

— Ukraine dominates talks at G7.

— World leaders warn Russia to pledge climate action.

— youngma@news.com.au