German newspaper ‘Bild’ wants to show with advertising: we are also critical of (hard) right-wing politicians

The German “Wir bringen’s auf den Punkt” means “We tell it like it is”. In a new sensational tabloid advertising campaign Image the ‘Punkt’ ends up 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, October 31. The overarching slogan is ‘Bild bleibt Bild’. According to the accompanying text from publishing group 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. The publisher reports that more than 38 million people read Bild every month.

Backbiting

That Image the Image remains, and is certainly not influenced by the spirit of the times, will not be news to many readers. The newspaper and the accompanying app deal in photos of semi-famous women in bikinis, gossip about German soap stars and TV chefs, minute news about the Bundesliga, and tough campaigns against the mainly progressive government under Olaf Scholz (SPD).

‘Wir bringen’s auf den punkt’: German for ‘we tell it like it is’ in ‘Bild’ campaign

With the Höcke image in the advertising Image try to make it clear that the magazine does not only tackle progressive parties, even though the reader may sometimes get that impression.

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

Even if you write Image that everything remains more or less the same: the newspaper struggles to find the right course, circulation is declining, and editors-in-chief are changing at a rapid pace.

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.

According to advertising from ‘Bild’ itself, all politicians can expect criticism from the newspaper ‘Bild’.