‘Hitler’s mustache’ for German politician: with striking advertising, the newspaper ‘Bild’ wants to show that it is also critical of the far right

image, Germany’s largest newspaper is struggling with its direction and losing readers. Remarkable advertising should counteract this.

The German ‘Wir bringen’s auf den Punkt’ means something like ‘We tell it like it is’. In a new sensational tabloid advertising campaign Image ends up the ‘Punkt’ right under the nose of Björn Höcke, the far-right figurehead of the Alternative for Germany party. Telling it like it is, the campaign suggests, also means making it clear that Höcke is a Nazi.

Image, Germany’s largest newspaper, launched the marketing offensive on Tuesday. The overarching slogan is: ‘Bild bleibt Bild’. According to the accompanying text from publisher Axel Springer, this should emphasize that the newspaper remains the same, even now that the newspaper’s circulation is shrinking and more people Image read online. But the newspaper is struggling with its direction, circulation is declining and editorial staff are changing rapidly.

Video made by AI

The newspaper and the app deal in photos of semi-famous women in bikinis, gossip about German soap stars and TV chefs, news about the Bundesliga, and hard campaigns against the mainly progressive government under Olaf Scholz (SPD).

With the Höcke image in the advertising Image try to make it clear that she is not only tackling progressive parties, even though the reader may get that impression.

Another part of the advertisement is a video produced with artificial intelligence, in which Chancellor Olaf Scholz supposedly proclaims in the Bundestag that ‘as long as we make a mess of things, Image keeps writing that we are making a mess of it’. Other politicians in the video shook their heads in despair.

Traditionally Image right-wing populist. The formula for success seemed to be that the newspaper always had the topic on the front page that concerned the whole of Germany. That ability seems to have diminished somewhat – even though it presents Imageunder the fairly new editor-in-chief Marion Horn, feels like an old, trusted brand.

© NRC