THE GRAND Prix in the coveted Press category at this year’s Cannes advertising festival went to Benetton (and its agencies Fabrica, Italy, and 72andSunny, Amsterdam) for its undeniably provocative “Unhate” campaign which showed world leaders kissing on the lips.

Three ads in the campaign were honoured: US president Barack Obama and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez; Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu; and German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

A bewildering array of awards are given at the annual international festival for campaigns across all media, and most will never be seen here.

One winner, however, that will be familiar to Irish TV viewers is the stunning “Angels Will Fall” ad for Lynx’s Axe Excite body spray deodorant, which won the 2012 Creative Effectiveness Lions Grand Prix for BBH London.