It would be easy to get the impression that Christians spend all their time complaining about sex. The latest case of religious outrage doesn't even go that far – it's about kissing. Benetton has withdrawn a series of adverts after the Vatican threatened legal action. They featured the pope kissing an Egyptian Muslim leader.

The controversy may have done wonders for Benetton's advertising budget. Without going to the expense of producing all the posters, it has now got far more publicity than it could have hoped to generate through conventional methods. The alternative explanation – that it was too naive to realise that people would be offended – is difficult to believe.