opinion
A chocolate bar with allegedly high milk content, online comparison portals for cell phone contracts, skin creams and painkillers: We are permanently surrounded by advertising, mostly companies can celebrate their products in glossy look.
But a liberal democracy that promotes liberal democracy?
This Friday, the German government is launching a campaign with the slogan "We are the rule of law". On posters, the Ministry of Justice then promotes equal rights and press freedom, religious tolerance and social diversity, the presumption of innocence and the right to demonstrate. Starting next week, lavishly produced advertising clips will also be released in cinemas.
Video: "We are the rule of law"
BMVJ
What kind of message is that coming from such a campaign? 70 years after its foundation, does the Republic really have to make sure for itself what its values are? Or is the campaign above all a challenge to political forces who would rather replace democracy and the rule of law with intolerance and exclusion?
The authority of the SPD politician Christine Lambrecht does not communicate this openly. "We want to make the rule of law more visible and understandable and strengthen trust in the rule of law," says ministry spokesman Rüdiger Petz. "With the campaign we want to show what a gain the democratic constitutional state is for the individual, but also what advantages a free democratic society offers."
Similarly, the coalition agreement between the Union and the SPD, to which the action is based, formulates it: "With a campaign for the rule of law, we want to raise awareness of its importance for each and every one of us," it states.
An alarm sign - and a stroke of luck
On the one hand, it is an alarm signal that in Germany in the year 2019 the advantages of a free democratic society must be advertised. Racist and anti-Semitic abuses, discrimination and intolerance of minorities have increased to an overtly dangerous level in recent years - as has the demand that the state "crack down" on criminals.
These social tensions do not address the posters and videos that will soon be seen throughout the country. Instead, the campaign relies on high-resolution images of happy-pedaling believers, a heartily smiling policewoman, or a wheelchair-user driven by the crowd.
BMVJ
"We believe in freedom": many smiling faces
This is whitewashing, no doubt, and yet this campaign is a stroke of luck because it comes as a wake-up call at the right time: it reminds of the founding principles of this community - and of the worthwhile fight for it. Human dignity is inviolable. All are equal before the law. The undisturbed religious practice is guaranteed.
Societies characterize permanent change, and that does not mean that they automatically become more modern. For example, the equal rights of women and men had constitutional status as early as 1949, yet massive inequalities were only gradually reduced over the course of the decades - and in theory could someday be reintroduced.
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Peter Maxwill
The Journey to the Rift: Reports from a Split Land
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This government campaign is all the more reminiscent of, and even more so, that we can use our right to demonstrate that we can stand up for its full preservation. That only thanks to the freedom of expression anyone can claim with impunity, there is no freedom of expression. And that tolerance ensures that everyone can freely develop within the law.
If that is not enough to win something from this costly promotion, perhaps the following will be consoling: a government that carries liberal values and the rule of law in such a way will now have to be measured by these maxims - again and again.
Then such a campaign can not be wrong.
