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"Thalia": In three branches, shelves were stocked with Chinese literature for a fee
Photo: DPA / Monika Skolimowska
For a long time, the book retail chain Thalia had the reputation of not being interested in a good reputation, of ruthlessly exploiting its market power, of condemning small publishers to indecently high subsidies for advertising costs, of rudely forcing traditional booksellers to close down.
"Thalia is the mafia's muse," wrote the FAZ once.
Since 2018, however, Thalia boss Michael Busch has been trying to correct its image with some success.
He once wore his nickname "Excel-Busch" with a certain pride.
Busch was seen as a business person, not a book person - and therefore for many as the bad guy in the traditionally aesthetic branch.
But since 2018 Busch has been saying sentences like this: "At Thalia we believe that spiritual nourishment makes people and society a little better."
It's no longer just about business, it's about social and socio-political responsibility.
"Our vision is a world where content matters."
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Propaganda in the bookstore: Chinese company equips Thalia shelves
These are sentences by which Busch will now be measured.
Because this week the news burst into the industry that Thalia is offering a shop window for Chinese state propaganda in its branches.
In an interview with journalists, Busch recently liked to correct the term "branch" by adding "bookstore" because "branch" sounded too shallow and not competent enough for him.
"Aldi has branches," he said.
"In branches, everything is as much the same as possible. With us, the employees on site have room to maneuver."
Design leeway that Thalia is now apparently also granting dubious business partners: Thalia has entered into a cooperation with a Chinese state-owned company that was allowed to stock a few shelves with Chinese literature in three branches for a fee. The books placed also include "Rule China", a collection of speeches of the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Michael Brand, the human rights spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, criticized the cooperation clearly: "Thalia has to decide: duck before dictatorships, because of a little more profit - or decency and attitude."
Thalia boss Busch had an advertising campaign developed in 2018 with the overarching slogan "World, stay awake".
The campaign continues to this day with messages like these: "You don't learn fantasy in a YouTube tutorial" or "Apple off, pear on".
That sounded pleasantly culturally pessimistic to the ears of traditionally culturally pessimistic bookworms.
Now they know that Thalia is still very open to at least new revenue models.
Busch's cultural change stands or falls with credibility
Other claims of the advertising campaign were strikingly political: "Reading helps against prejudice", "Donald Trump doesn't like reading", "Brexit: That wouldn't have happened with reading".
They are sayings that can now easily be turned against their sender.
"China Deal: That wouldn't have happened with reading."
According to Busch, the advertising campaign should be more than an advertising campaign, it should be a cultural change for the entire company.
Such a cultural change is a tough process, the boss admitted.
In an interview, he once compared Thalia to the editor of an advertising paper that was told that she should do investigative journalism in the future.
The comparison makes it clear where the desired cultural change stands or falls: with credibility.
She was attacked after this week's reveal.
Busch should end the cooperation with the Chinese company as soon as possible.
In terms of credibility, but possibly also in terms of business.
Thalia celebrated its 100th anniversary almost exactly a year ago.
For the book for the anniversary, which had the same title as the advertising campaign, "World, stay awake", Busch was able to win over all kinds of book people: the historian Ute Frevert, the philosopher Rüdiger Safranski, the Piper publisher Felicitas von Lovenberg, the psychiatrist and bestselling author Manfred Lütz, the communication scientist Miriam Meckel, the theater director Joachim Lux. They all told in short, personal texts what reading means to them.
Busch joined the illustrious group and also wrote a text: "Anyone who reads stays awake - and can also react vigilantly to the current challenges of our complex, turbulent and risky society," he preached.
And then shortly afterwards went on to attack non-readers: "Somewhere between the series marathon and jumping from screen to screen", people unfortunately forgot to "remain critical of any indoctrination."
The question now arises as to how critically Thalia examined a possible indoctrination of Thalia customers before the deal with the Chinese partner came about.
"I firmly believe that intellectual nourishment not only makes people and society a little better, but also more future-proof: more competent in discourse and more resistant to the enemies of democracy and the open society," Busch wrote at the time.
It is a commitment by which one must measure him today.
Busch should end the cooperation with the Chinese state-owned company as soon as possible.
In terms of credibility, but possibly also in terms of business.
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