← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Rudel
Thread ID: 8144 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2003-07-15
2003-07-15 20:59 | User Profile
I hope that the "old stereotypes" still hold (at least marginally) true, and the real Germany will, once again, raise from these most embarrassing lows...
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3055264.stm]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3055264.stm[/url]
Making Germany sexy
By Clare Murphy BBC News Online
Germany is starting a series of campaigns to improve the country's image abroad, seeking to replace the dogged stereotypes of Nazis and sunbed stealing tourists with a more relaxed, hip and even erotic portrayal of its people and language.
Adding insult to the injury caused by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who last week compared a German politician to a Nazi prison campguard, a junior Italian minister has described Germans as "uniform supernationalistic blonds" who "loudly invade" Italy's beaches each summer.
The remarks by both Mr Berlusconi and his employee, Stefano Stefani, have met widespread contempt.
But they have hit a particular nerve among some Germans, coming as they do just as the country is trying to shake-off perceptions which they feel have little or nothing to do with the reality of 21st-Century Germany.
It's images of half-naked, lithe youngsters dancing at Berlin's annual techno dance festival, the Love Parade, along with celebrities such as the supermodel Claudia Schiffer and sporting heroes like footballer Juergen Klinsmann and former tennis player Boris Becker, which German cultural officials want to draw attention to.
It is hoped popular German celebrities will draw attention away from the past Last week, the Goethe Institute in London held a brainstorming session with corporate and cultural representatives in the hope of coming up with a new "brand" for Germany.
"We discovered that it would be too hard to change Germany's brand, as many of the images associated with the country are too deep-set," said the conference's chair, Ulrich Sacker.
"But we did decide that we've got to start emphasising current aspects of German life which are ignored - the hedonism for example of the Love Parade, the fact that we have short working days, that we take the longest holidays in Europe."
The problem of perception is seen as particularly bad in Britain, where television schedules are packed with documentaries about the Nazis and the Holocaust - topics which also form the staple of the history curriculum in British schools.
These stereotypes had an impact on tourism, export, industry, as well as inward investment, the German ambassador to London suggested.
"We also have big problems with perception here," says Barbara Malchow of the Goethe Institute in Paris.
"The Nazi past doesn't play such a big role among French impressions of Germans as it does in Britain - although it is an issue. The key problem we're finding is that there just isn't that much interest in Germany or learning German."
The campaign being launched in France is designed to encourage young French people to think of Germany as sexy.
Under the suggestive motto: "There is so much we can do together," the advertising portrays the French and Germans as intertwined at many levels.
"It shows the practical side of our relationship, but also the prospect of more exotic and erotic aspects," says Ms Malchow.
The French branch of the Goethe Institute is also hoping to draft in Schiffer, Klinsmann and Becker to help out.
Next year, other campaigns will be rolled out in Eastern Europe, where it is freely admitted that memories of the past die hard.
"Poland's going to be a difficult one," one cultural official concedes. "We're going to have to work out whether the funny and sexy attitude of these other campaigns is appropriate there."
Last week, Germany got rid of the Luftwaffe logo from aircraft used by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other top government officials.
The Luftwaffe reduced cities like Warsaw to rubble during World War II, and the continuing presence of the logo on aircraft is thought to have raised more than a few eyebrows on trips to the east.
Hold on
But some German brand experts wonder if their country is taking its image a little too seriously.
"The obsession with how other countries view us seems to have much more to do with how we see ourselves than anything else," says Andreas Schneider, of BBN advertising, which markets German products abroad.
"The bad economic conditions mean we've got a bit of a self-confidence problem at the moment - and maybe that's why we've got so upset about these ridiculous comments by the Italians. They don't deserve the attention they are getting."
Mr Schneider also warned against throwing the baby out with the bathwater, noting that many German stereotypes - such as the hard working and ruthlessly efficient employee which the Goethe Institute hinted at ditching - worked to the country's advantage - even if they no longer match the reality.
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"Italians for example have to contend with all sorts of stereotypes about being unreliable, lazy even, completely the opposite impression which people hold of Germany," he said.
"And certainly if you were a company, it's not hard to say which stereotype you'd prefer to be lumbered with. Is it?"
2003-07-15 21:36 | User Profile
Typical leftist social engineering. People will keep their stereotypes no matter what. The good thing about the Goethe Institute is that it has been subjected to massive cuts over the last years and was forced to close down many offices.
These stereotypes had an impact on tourism, export, industry, as well as inward investment, the German ambassador to London suggested
As about that ridiculous claim that a "wrong" image harms the economy. Oh my goodness. People buy products if they are convinced of their quality, and not because they are interested in the country's image. How many consumers really care what country manufactured the product.
**"But we did decide that we've got to start emphasising current aspects of German life which are ignored - the hedonism for example of the Love Parade, the fact that we have short working days, that we take the longest holidays in Europe." **
What a joke, Germany is in deep recession. 1/4 of the companies are considering moving abroad. Forget about longest holidays in Europe if that is not an euphemism for unemployment. The party days are over. The hedonism and fun society is going to disappear pretty soon. Working for 5$ an hour is what people will get used to. Already 16% of the population live in poverty according to the OECD. The self delusion is unbelievable. No image capaign will lighten up the image of a society that is just going ship wreck. More wasted tax payers money for the parasites of the "culture" industry.
Enough said, I go to bed now.
2003-07-15 23:19 | User Profile
Originally posted by Rudel@Jul 15 2003, 20:59 * *But they have hit a particular nerve among some Germans, coming as they do just as the country is trying to shake-off perceptions which they feel have little or nothing to do with the reality of 21st-Century Germany.
It's images of half-naked, lithe youngsters dancing at Berlin's annual techno dance festival, the Love Parade, along with celebrities such as the supermodel Claudia Schiffer and sporting heroes like footballer Juergen Klinsmann and former tennis player Boris Becker, which German cultural officials want to draw attention to.
It is hoped popular German celebrities will draw attention away from the past Last week, the Goethe Institute in London held a brainstorming session with corporate and cultural representatives in the hope of coming up with a new "brand" for Germany.
"We discovered that it would be too hard to change Germany's brand, as many of the images associated with the country are too deep-set," said the conference's chair, Ulrich Sacker.
"But we did decide that we've got to start emphasising current aspects of German life which are ignored - the hedonism for example of the Love Parade, the fact that we have short working days, that we take the longest holidays in Europe." **
In reality of course Germany has always had this liberal side, but conservative instincts kept it in check, except when overwhelmed by anarchist/foreign liberal influence, like in the Weimar Republic.
The "image" concern of the modern German liberalism typically I think traces very much to the particularly strong Frankfurt School influence on the left, typified by people like Jurgen Habermas, in the German speaking world, dating to the time of course of Max Horkheimer and Herburt Marcuse's influence in the postwar American denazification programs for Germany.
It really remains true that in Germany "Americanization" is so often tied to leftism, in spite of the press's depiction of the left as anti-American.
2003-07-15 23:36 | User Profile
Originally posted by AntiYuppie@Jul 15 2003, 23:28 * > *It really remains true that in Germany "Americanization" is so often tied to leftism, in spite of the press's depiction of the left as anti-American **
The Left is anti-American when it comes to George Washington or Robert E. Lee, but liberals are solidly pro-"American" when it comes to Hollywood, MTV, and the rest of our trashy consumer culture. And they love it even more when it's exported to historically "problematic" places like Germany or currently "problematic" Arab nations.**
Besides media of course another thing progressives like about America is our education system. National Review pointed out a few years ago how different (and inferior) schools are in left-dominated German states like Hesse and Bremen, where American methods dominate, from elsewhere in Germany dominated by more traditional methods.
2003-07-16 00:57 | User Profile
Originally posted by AntiYuppie@Jul 15 2003, 21:46 * Sorry, but I much prefer the "Old Germany" image of Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hindenburg, and Wagner to today's Germany, which is a grotesque mixture of castrated middle aged men burbling apologies to Jews and Eurotrash techno and punk rock listening youngsters. I guess that's what passes for "sexy" these days.*
Thank you Oswald. Yup they always pick on us old codgers. Just like the german women that said > why do all our generals have to look like Bismarck? You know ze fickle dames. Ze would rather ve all look like prissy Frenchman with wigs and fancy cologne kissing ze womens hands. There vas a time when all these prissy Frenchmen were kissing our boots. Now goodby Prussizmus - ve have all become Frenchman.
Do you think this forum would rather replace you with a picture of Britney and me with a picture of Claudia? :(
2003-07-16 07:23 | User Profile
*Originally posted by AntiYuppie@Jul 15 2003, 15:46 * ** Sorry, but I much prefer the "Old Germany" image of Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hindenburg, and Wagner to today's Germany, which is a grotesque mixture of castrated middle aged men burbling apologies to Jews and Eurotrash techno and punk rock listening youngsters. I guess that's what passes for "sexy" these days. **
And please don't forget the Germany of Adolf the great, you are hurting my NS sensibilities... ;) As per the anti-americanism issue, one must be aware that today's America, which from the Clinton administration on has become a mere instrument of Jewish power in the world is the mortal danger of any genuine nationalistic rebirth in Germany or anywhere else in Europe. I don't believe in democracy and don't think we will solve anything through the ballot box (since the advent of TV, it has become a sham), but if by some miracle a party like NPD wins an absolute majority in the Bundestag - how long do you think it would take before opeartion "German Freedom" starts rolling?
2003-07-17 17:34 | User Profile
Anti-Yuppie wrote:
Next thing you know the Max Planck Institute will start inviting Michael Jackson as a keynote speaker.
Why not? Oxford already did.... :lol:
[url=http://www.spearhead-uk.com/]http://www.spearhead-uk.com/[/url]
2003-07-18 02:58 | User Profile
Off topic, but spurred by Frederick William I's post above.
Dja see the new "For Love or Money" reality show? It's this girl (the one who won the $million by getting the first guy to 'chose' her -- and then she chose the million bucks instead of him...)
Anyway, it's now her picking from 15 "men" -- and I was really disappointed to see the "men" they chose -- even the 34-yr-old looks like a boy! Maybe I'm a strange woman (well hell, I must be - I'm HERE, aren't I?), but I was HOPING there'd be at least a few MEN amongst the boys! Is it just that young (20-24 yrs) girls want boys, or has the society decided against MEN-looking men? You know, ADULTS?!
Bismarck may have had a funny looking mustache, but he and his ilk were at least adult males!
2003-07-18 06:15 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Avalanche@Jul 17 2003, 20:58 * ** Off topic, but spurred by Frederick William I's post above.
Dja see the new "For Love or Money" reality show? It's this girl (the one who won the $million by getting the first guy to 'chose' her -- and then she chose the million bucks instead of him...)
Anyway, it's now her picking from 15 "men" -- and I was really disappointed to see the "men" they chose -- even the 34-yr-old looks like a boy! Maybe I'm a strange woman (well hell, I must be - I'm HERE, aren't I?), but I was HOPING there'd be at least a few MEN amongst the boys! Is it just that young (20-24 yrs) girls want boys, or has the society decided against MEN-looking men? You know, ADULTS?!
Bismarck may have had a funny looking mustache, but he and his ilk were at least adult males! **
**QUOTE (AntiYuppie @ Jul 15 2003, 21:46 ) Sorry, but I much prefer the "Old Germany" image of Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hindenburg, and Wagner to today's Germany, which is a grotesque mixture of castrated middle aged men burbling apologies to Jews and Eurotrash techno and punk rock listening youngsters. I guess that's what passes for "sexy" these days.
Thank you Oswald. Yup they always pick on us old codgers. Just like the german women that said QUOTE why do all our generals have to look like Bismarck? You know ze fickle dames. Ze would rather ve all look like prissy Frenchman with wigs and fancy cologne kissing ze womens hands. There vas a time when all these prissy Frenchmen were kissing our boots. Now goodby Prussizmus - ve have all become Frenchman. Do you think this forum would rather replace you with a picture of Britney and me with a picture of Claudia?
In this sense, Frederick William I, and not Marx, was the first conscious socialist. Whither Judaism and the West, The last chapter of Culture of Critique: **
VNN SITE IS DOWN!? Read the article on dressing like a man. What do you think Avalanche?