The White House and the Vatican have issued statements regarding the controversial images released by the Benetton clothing company.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz via LAtimes said:

"The White House has long disapproved "of the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes."

It will be impossible, even with a successful lawsuit to ban any of the images released today by Benetton as thousands have already downloaded and reposted them.

In a slightly less glamorous comparison, Scarlett Johansson was victim to such a ‘photo leak’ against her will, but this had a different cause and effect. In this case, this is an ad campaign to highlight the idea of ‘tolerance’. After all, it is these leaders who represent a majority of the world’s population but it is understandable that crossing the religious or political barrier with controversial images could divide more than unite.