Green background, withered sunflowers and populist allegations. For days, posters with this print have been decorating huge canvases all over Germany. The target of the negative campaign is again the Green top candidate Annalena Baerbock and her party.
At first glance, the posters look deceptively real and resemble a typical poster campaign by the Greens in the federal election campaign. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that their top candidate Annalena Baerbock and her party colleagues should definitely not be happy about the widely rolled out advertising campaign.
For a few days, posters have been hanging in more than 50 major German cities accusing the Greens of “destroying wealth”, “climate socialism” or “eco-terror”, among other things. It is already the second large-scale anti-green campaign by a supposedly independent lobby organization within a very short time. The party now wants to defend itself and is receiving support from its competitors SPD and CDU.
Greens want to defend themselves against the dirt campaign
Green federal manager Michael Kellner spoke of a “right-wing dirt campaign of AfD-related actors with dubious financing”. In an email to supporters of the party, he wrote that legal action could not be taken against the campaign. However, the fear of the right is palpable and one cannot be pushed back a millimeter. Kellner advocated fighting twice as hard, hanging up twice as many posters and knocking on twice as many doors. “No fake news campaign, no fake quotes or pictures, no real disinformation, no dirty election campaign will stop us”.
Two months ago, an advertising campaign by the lobby organization Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft caused a sensation. Disguised as Moses, Annalena Baerbock was accused of trying to tease the population with various forbidden ones. The advertisement appeared in many different German daily and weekly newspapers.
A Hamburg company is behind “Grüner Mist”
The new campaign, behind which the Hamburg company “Conservare Communications GmbH” is, is led by ex-CSU member David Bendels. Bendels confirmed to the German press agency that the campaign was designed to show the “massive danger to Germany” that the party would pose.
Even if Bendels claims to be non-party, he maintains close contacts with some high-ranking AfD politicians. He has already posed for his Facebook page with Alice Weidel and Björn Höcke. In addition to his work at “Conservare Communications GmbH”, he is also chairman of the “Association for the Preservation of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties”, which in the past has repeatedly called for the AfD to be elected. In addition, the AfD association offered free editions of the right-wing conservative newspaper “Deutschland-Kurier”, which led to suspicion of secret campaign funding.
AfD denies agreements
Despite the proximity to Bendel’s organizations and the congruence of many demands for the “Green Dung” campaign, the AfD rejects any allegations of an agreement. Compared to the ARD capital studio, a spokesman assured that the AfD had neither “any vote or commissioning” for the negative campaign.
In an interview with the German Press Agency, David Bendels also assures that the AfD was in no way involved in the planning or implementation. The entrepreneur did not comment on the immense costs caused by the many posters, the website, advertisements in the social networks and the campaign video.
In addition to Bendels and the AfD, the media company “Ströer” has to face furious criticism. Large parts of the Cologne company’s advertising media are used for the poster campaign. Ströer would look after many advertising spaces in public spaces and was not responsible for the content and design of the advertising, according to a spokesman for the company. You cannot ban advertising that does not violate laws or voluntary self-restraints. Compared to the Tagesschau, however, the company admitted that it had rejected several motifs in the campaign that were not legally compliant.
Non-partisan support on Twitter
The negative campaign generated mixed feedback on social networks. While some party friends of the AfD, such as the Berlin MP Harald Laatsch, were happy about the sensational action, various well-known opponents also gathered: inside of “Grüner Mist” on the short message service Twitter.
Politicians in particular, inside the SPD, fought against what they saw as the tasteless form of the election campaign. Lars Klingbeil, Secretary General of the Social Democrats, wrote: “# Green manure is # right-wing waste. Democrats stick together.” Below the posting is a picture board with the words “Separated in colors, united in the matter against the law.” Party leader Saskia Esken and the SPD European Parliament member Tiemo Wölken also expressed their solidarity with the Greens.
CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak also joined the criticism of the abuse. “Part of a fair election campaign is to take the floor when it is not against your own party: The filth that is currently being poured over the Greens by AfD and NPD-affiliated circles & is being fired with a poster campaign is disgusting. Full solidarity @MiKellner, “wrote Ziemiak to the Greens federal manager.
Swell: DPA,
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
