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Benetton "Unhate" Ad Claims Inspiration from Brezhnev-Honecker Kiss of Dictators


RUSH: Snerdley, have you seen these Benetton ads?  Benetton, the "unhate" ads?  Oh, oh, folks, I gotta tell you, they got picture of Obama playing tonsil hockey with Hu Jintao.  They had pictures of Pope Benedict playing tonsil hockey with Mahmoud Abbas, somebody from the Religion of Peace.  That they've taken down, by the way. The Benetton people have taken down a picture of the pope making out with an imam, probably because the Religion of Peace objected.  If the pope had objected they wouldn't have taken it down.  They've got Obama playing tonsil hockey with Hugo Chavez.  They have the premiere of South Korea playing tonsil hockey with Kim Jong-il. 

There's a series of these pictures that show world leaders -- like Benjamin Netanyahu making out with... maybe that's with Mahmoud Abbas.  There's a series of them, fake ads.  At least we think they're fake.  The Obama pictures, we're not sure.  But we know that the pope wasn't making out with a Muslim guy.  The pictures of Obama and Hugo Chavez, who's to say?  But, anyway, these ads are typical of Benetton.  They are shock.  They get everybody talking about them, as people are doing now.  As I say, the pope kissing some Muslim cleric, Abbas kissing Netanyahu, and it's an ad campaign supposed to promote unhate.  Now, these ads are being done by Benetton.  What does Benetton make?  I don't even know what Benetton makes.  I know I don't have anything by Benetton.  Their ad campaigns don't say anything about what they make. 

Do you know what they make, Dawn?  They make apparel. You mean like the stuff that the Occupy Wall Street people would be wearing?  (interruption) Well, what do you mean in trouble?  They've had numerous ad campaigns.  They're quite controversial, but I think the Obama photos like kissing Hu Jintao, I have to think it's fake because Obama bows to these people but we've never actually seen Obama kissing world leaders.  By the way, these are not smooches.  The pictures have been Photoshopped. It's literal spit swapping.  These are makeout kind of pictures. 

The Washington Post does a story on this today.  "Obama Kisses Chavez in New Benetton Ad -- Benetton returns to its controversial marketing roots with a new campaign that features Photoshopped images of President Obama and other world leaders engaging in a kiss. In two separate ads, Obama is made to appear as if he is kissing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The Unhate Foundation, founded by the Italian clothing company, is an advocacy group for tolerance. The controversial ad campaign is an attempt for Benetton to regain its status from the 'United Colors' ads that regularly shocked viewers with subjects that had nothing to do with clothing: A priest kissing a nun, a man dying of AIDS, a just-born baby with umbilical cord still attached, a trio of real human hearts." 

Now, here's what is not understood by the Washington Post, and this is not ancient history.  These people behind this campaign say that they were "inspired by a kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German communist leader Erich Honecker in 1979." I've got a picture of that.  That picture sent chills down the spines of people who lived in Soviet satellite countries.  Brezhnev kissing Honecker was all about sending the message of total unity and oppression.  It was about East Germany and the Soviet Union being entirely aligned.  It was intended to show communist solidarity among the Soviet bloc countries.  At the time in 1979 -- this is not ancient history, and nobody remembers this, apparently, especially not the people at Benetton who claim that they were inspired by this picture.  East Germany was the greatest defender of the Soviet Union's system of satellite vassal nations.  And in exchange, the Soviet Union promised to ruthlessly put down any popular democratic uprisings in East Germany just like what Czechoslovakia had faced with the 1968 Prague Spring. 

Now, I have to wonder how can anybody be so ignorant. The picture of Brezhnev and Honecker kissing was meant to scare the devil out of people.  It was the epitome of hate.  There was nothing unifying or uplifting or inspiring about this at all.  Imagine if you were a citizen of either of these two countries, the Soviet Union or East Germany, and they are totally locked-down communist countries with walls built to keep people in.  No freedom whatsoever.  And you see the two leaders in a picture kissing each other, which did happen.  That was meant to keep you in line.  So here come these people at Benetton claiming they are inspired by this to run their unhate campaign.  This is what Benetton says inspired their campaign. 

This is not ancient history here.  This really is an example of laughable liberal ignorance and smugness at its finest, and I actually don't know if it's ignorance.  It's just two communists kissing each other, like Obama and Chavez.  What's not to like about that?  You know, if you're some deranged leftist maybe the inspiration they're claiming is, in fact, genuine, two communist leaders kissing each other to show unity and solidarity, big government reigns supreme and so forth and so on.  So, anyway, I just wanted you to know, in case you hear this discussed, some liberals bring this up, 'cause it's being discussed and the pictures are all over Drudge.  They're all over the place, people are gonna be talking about it if they're not yet, in your presence.  And if they tell you this is a wonderful campaign, it's designed to promote getting along and togetherness and love.  No, no, no, no.  It's just the opposite. 

Brezhnev and Erich Honecker making out is designed to send a chill up and down the spine of every citizen of East Germany and the Soviet Union.  Unity, unhate, two communist leaders.  And I've got the picture here that was drawn on the Berlin Wall.  It was so offensive to people, this picture was so symbolic of oppression, Brezhnev and Honecker, that it was drawn on the Berlin Wall.  I'll tell you what I'll do.  It's very small, and maybe I can get a larger picture of it at some point.  I'm gonna zoom in on this, by the way, I'm doing it right now.  I've turned the Dittocam off so you won't actually watch the zoom process here and it may be too small to use anyway but we'll see.  Hang on just a second.  I think it's gonna be too small, well, maybe not.  Okay, for you watching on the Dittocam, just a quick sneak peek of it.  There it is.  That's the picture of the Brezhnev and Honecker smug kiss that's drawn on the Berlin Wall with graffiti on it and everything.  It was not inspiring of unhate.  It was not promoting love.  It was not promoting anything the Benetton people and the people at the Washington Post who are historically ignorant about this would like you to believe.


RUSH: I just sent two photos up to Koko Jr.  Koko Sr. is on a cleverly timed six-working-day vacation that will get him two and a half weeks off.  But I'm well aware of how the staff manipulate me in this way.  Oh, I'm totally well aware of it.  Oh, yes, six working days, because it's over the Thanksgiving holiday, includes taking a following Monday off, it's about a two-and-a-half-week-real-week vacation, but since there's two days next week that don't count as workdays you throw them in, too, so it's a six-working-day vacation that takes up two and a half weeks.  H.R.'s tried this.  H.R.'s done this routinely over the Christmas holidays.  Oh, yes, oh, yes.  I am well aware of the tricks.  (interruption) Where is my holiday spirit?  Did I turn down the request?  No.  I didn't turn down the request. 

They think I don't figure it out before I say yes.  I know what's happening here before I say yes because I'm a good boss, I'm a good guy, I understand it. I never manipulated vacation time this way myself, never had the opportunity to do it.  Don't do it now.  I was just never that creative with vacation time.  It never really mattered that much to me.  (interruption) What do you mean I can take off any time I want?  I cannot do anything I want.  I've got 600 radio affiliates out there.  I can't just say "punt this" in November, for example, or February, I just can't do that.  Why do you think I take the week off between Christmas and New Years?  Why do you think I do that?  Because it's a week that there are no ratings.  I totally consider it for our 600 wonderful and great affiliates.  Well, 598.  A couple of them are pains in the rear.  No, I'm not gonna say which, it doesn't matter.  I'm just saying, I don't mean to get distracted here.

The actual picture of Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev in the spit swap, it's a black and white picture, been sent up to Koko Jr., an enlarged picture of that picture actually drawn on the Berlin Wall.  It's totally disgusting, and that picture of Erich Honecker and Brezhnev kissing is what the Benetton people say inspired them in their unhate campaign.


RUSH:  Back to the phones, Cadillac, Michigan, and this is Greg.  Greg, welcome to the EIB Network.  Great to have you here.  Hello.

CALLER:  Thanks, Rush.  It's good to talk to you.  I called because I wanted to agree with your assessment of the Brezhnev-Honecker kiss.

RUSH:  Yeah.

CALLER:  I really agree with you that it was meant to send a message to the German people, and it was a sinister message, and they received it.  And that picture has really become a symbol that's hung on with the German people.  The reason I say that is we went to Germany in September, my family, and if you go to any souvenir shop near the Berlin Wall, that is one of the most common T-shirts, that picture is on the T-shirts, and a lot of them have the words "My God, help me survive this deadly love."  So it's become symbolic, a lasting symbol to the Germany people of that time when they were oppressed by the East German government --

RUSH:  Right.

CALLER:  -- the Stasi, the Russians, and it's very enduring, and --

RUSH:  This is not ancient history.  This is 1979.  What he's talking about, we led off the program today with commentary on this Benetton advertising campaign with all the pictures of world leaders kissing each other. There's a big Washington Post story about it, and the Post story says that the whole campaign was inspired by a kiss photo of Brezhnev and Erich Honecker who ran East Germany.  The campaign is unhate, at Benetton.  The point that I made was that was that picture sent chills, that picture showed solidarity between two leaders who were tyrants, dictators, oppressing the people who lived in those two countries. There was no love or togetherness or anything of the sort.  That picture was meant to dispirit people in East Germany and the Soviet Union.  And what Greg here is saying is he's been there, and it was that way. 

That picture is a reminder of the tyranny that people used to live under in East Germany in 1979, which is not that long ago.  It's inexcusable that the Washington Post ought to fall for this notion that this campaign was inspired by that picture.  If they knew their history and were honest about it they would point out that that picture has nothing in common with the theme of the Benetton advertising campaign.  Not that Benetton cares.  I'm just talking about the Washington Post being thorough and clear in their reporting of all this.  I appreciate the call, Greg.  Thanks much. 



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