Labor of love

Political rivals lock lips in Meretz ad

Satirical spin-off of Benetton campaign lampoons leaders of center-left bloc for refusing to pledge they won't enter coalition with Netanyahu

By Philip Podolsky 3 December 2012, 2:35 pm
A Meretz campaign ad featuring a photoshopped image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich locking lips
A Meretz campaign ad features a photoshopped image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor Party leader Shelly Yachimovich locking lips. The legend ‘I am yours and you are mine’ is a play on Yachimovich’s first name, which also means ‘mine’ in Hebrew. (photo credit: Courtesy)

The left-wing Meretz party on Thursday launched a provocative ad campaign featuring photoshopped images of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in lip-locks with leaders of the center-left bloc.

The campaign’s satirical bite was aimed at reports that Labor Party chair Shelly Yachimovich, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni, the head of the Hatnua (The Movement) party refused to pledge that they wouldn’t enter a coalition with Netanyahu’s Likud party in the likely event that he is reelected as prime minister.

A campaign poster for Meretz features a photoshopped image of Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman (left) kissing Yair Lapid, the chairman of the Yesh Atid party (photo credit: courtesy)

“We decided to design invitations to the wedding that will be held on January 23 between Shelly, Yair and Tzipi, and Biberman,” Roy Yellin, the head of the Meretz campaign, said.

“We wished to provide an amusing and provocative illustration of what will happen to the votes of those who vote for the center parties, which are competing among themselves for the role of senior partner in Netanyahu’s next government,” he added.

The ad is an allusion to Benetton’s controversial “Unhate” campaign from early 2012, which featured images of various world leaders sharing kisses with political adversaries.

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