Status: 08/12/2021 1:36 p.m.
A poster campaign against the Greens caused a sensation: The AfD emphasized that it had nothing to do with it, the Greens talked about a “dirt campaign”. The Ströer company announced that it had rejected several motives.
In the 1990s it was the Union that warned against an allegedly planned coalition of the SPD and PDS (today Die Linke) with a “red sock campaign”. In the current election campaign, however, there is talk of “green crap” on posters in many cities and online advertisements. The negative campaign is accompanied by a website and profiles on various networks.
At first glance, the posters can look like campaigns for the Greens: Green background and sunflowers – which, however, make your head hang. They are provided with catchphrases such as “Destruction of Prosperity”, “Climate Socialism” or “Ecoterror”.
Ströer rejected motifs
The posters are booked, among other things, via advertising media from the Ströer Group, which manages a large number of such advertising spaces in public spaces. As a billboard rental company, Ströer is not responsible for the content and design of the advertising, according to a company spokesman. In addition, it could “refuse any advertising that does not violate laws or voluntary self-restraints”.
Upon request from tagesschau.de The spokesman explained, however, that the company had rejected several motifs for the campaign because they were not legally compliant.
Who is funding the campaign?
Obviously, the posters should be even more aggressive. But who is behind the campaign? “The Greens are reaching for the government,” read a video for the campaign on YouTube. And further: “We oppose this: 50 major German cities, several thousand large posters – and a mission: to educate the citizens about what will really flourish for them with a green government!
Who this “we” is remains unclear. Because there is no party behind the campaign, but a company based in Hamburg: Conservare Communication GmbH. The society is the publisher of the weekly newspaper “Deutschland Kurier”, whose editor-in-chief David Bendels is also the sole partner of Conservare Communication.
The ex-CSU and, according to his own statements, now Bendels, who are now independent, told the dpa that it was a “pointed ‘anti-Greens’ campaign”. Bendels is also chairman of the “Association for the Preservation of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties”. In the past, he had produced posters and brochures in several election campaigns calling for the election of the AfD. Issues of the “Deutschland-Kurier” were also offered to the party free of charge – which led to suspicion of secret campaign funding.
According to party leader Jörg Meuthen, the AfD had filed a lawsuit against the association at the time. Meuthen had emphasized: “We say: We are entering a fairway where we are accused of being illegal party financing.”
AfD rejects agreements
Now the party is again distancing itself, it shared that ARD capital studio with that a circular was sent by the federal spokesman and the federal treasurer in connection with “the anti-green poster campaign” in the party. It states that the wrong impression was given that “the poster campaign ‘Green Dung 2021’, organized and financed by a private company, has some connection with our party”. And further:
Although the content of this campaign is certainly to be welcomed and addresses several points in our Bundestag election program, there is no organizational, financial or other connection to the alternative for Germany. In particular, this campaign does not represent an election campaign for our party for the Bundestag election, and there was no vote or commission from our side.
The AfD had hit the headlines several times because of the suspicion of secret election campaign support.
Entrepreneur Bendels also emphasized to the dpa that the campaign had nothing to do with the association or the AfD. However, he did not comment on the costs or possible donors. Bendels obviously has good contacts with AfD politicians, he is in photos, for example Alice Weidel or Björn Höcke to see.
It is clear that such an advertising campaign requires considerable financial resources, according to estimates from industry circles, several hundred thousand euros. There are also advertisements on Facebook, the campaign video and a website. Whoever finances this extensive negative campaign and wants to influence the election in his own way remains in the dark.
Greens speak of “dirt campaign”
Green federal manager Michael Kellner spoke in view of the “green crap” posters of a “right-wing dirt campaign” “AfD-related actors with dubious financing”. Legally, there is nothing that can be done about it, he wrote in an email to supporters of the party. The fear of the right is palpable. “No fake news campaign, no fake quotes or pictures, no real disinformation, no matter how dirty an election campaign may be, will stop us.”
In June, an advertising campaign by the lobby organization Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft (INSM) caused a lot of criticism. The company, financed by the employers’ associations in the metal and electrical industry, lists several topics on which the Greens allegedly wanted to tame the Germans with bans. Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock was also portrayed as Moses, with “We don’t need a state religion” above the motif.
The extent to which such campaigns can influence the election campaign or the decision of the voters can hardly be measured. According to the latest Germany trend, the Greens hold 19 percent of the vote, just ahead of the SPD and well behind the Union.
However, at the moment a total of 29 percent (+4) of those eligible to vote – and thus a relatively large group – do not provide any information or do not know who they would vote for. So the race is still open – and relatively few votes could be decisive when it comes to who should lead a coalition.