A man around 40, wearing a fisherman’s hat, a t-shirt with a Tweety print and a black sweatshirt jacket, walks through Berlin. Next to him is a woman in a blazer and floral trousers, a generation older. What looks like a walk to get to know the mother-in-law is one of four educational videos for the upcoming federal election. The heart of a campaign by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (PPB). The man is Eko Fresh, rapper, actor, and every now and then an activist. He likes to use his music as a political platform: after the sexual assault on New Year’s Eve in his hometown of Cologne, he wrote the song “Domplatten Massaker”, and last year he campaigned for women who are exposed to domestic violence with “Stronger than violence” . With his latest song “Geh raus” he wants to draw attention to the importance of the right to vote.
“The world is sick / you are the one who can save it.” The message is simple: vote. Only 76.8 percent of those eligible to vote made use of their privilege in the last federal election. Almost a quarter did not put a cross. If all the votes had come together, explains Eko Fresh, they would have formed the majority in the Bundestag. A vivid comparison that demonstrates to the audience the power of a voice that was believed to be lost. By the way, voter turnout in 2017 was lowest among those under 29 years of age. It is all the more important not to give away your vote: “And what happens if you don’t evaluate your vote? / You don’t wipe anything away from anyone with it, no / You just make all the weirdos even stronger.”
What exactly do election workers do, and who actually finances the whole thing?
In the videos, Eko Fresh meets the faces of the election – state election officer (correct, the woman in flower pants), first-time voter, election worker. The basics are defined in the discussions. What exactly do election workers do, and who actually finances the whole thing? However, the questions only scratch the surface. Whether a first-time voter really makes his going to the ballot box dependent on who is behind the process in the district office? Relevant knowledge of why two crosses have to be placed or what information is available is unfortunately left out. Reference is only made to the BPB’s own voting machine. Anyway.
It is particularly important for the rapper, who has Turkish roots, to address people with a similar background. In the video “Das 1. Mal” he meets Mehmet, who was allowed to vote for the first time at the age of 24. Mehmet wants to encourage viewers to take on German citizenship if they have the chance. However, if you did not have your German passport in your wallet when the video was published, you will probably not be able to show it on September 26th.
Facebook serves as the main platform for displaying the videos. A platform that is often referred to as dead by users under the age of 25. It is no longer the first-time voters who romp around here, but above all their parents. A generation that already has a major influence on the outcome of the election, because the 50 to 59 year olds make up the largest proportion of this year’s eligible voters with 11.8 percent. First-time voters, on the other hand, only make up 4.6 percent. At this point, influencers are used to save what can be saved: Youtubers with millions of followers more or less authentically encourage their young fans to vote. That seems to work at first glance, for example the video “You decide about the future” by Jonas Ems has almost 40,000 views. However, it remains unclear whether it is out of Ems loyal habit or the followers’ real interest in voting. In any case, you won’t find anything about the campaign on his Instagram account. And otherwise it will be difficult to find the 30 “content pieces” promised by the participating influencers. A uniform campaign hashtag would have helped.
Rapper Eko Fresh is five federal elections older than the first-time voters
In the end, however, the grand finale. A YouTube livestream with the title “(In-) selectable – Germany, what’s wrong with you ?!” last Saturday evening should clarify the last questions. First-time voters, politicians and experts are guests of the moderator trio, consisting of journalist Robin Blase, reporter Don Pablo Mulemba and political tiktoker Victoria Reichelt. At 25 years of age, the latter is much closer to the target group than the actual patron of the campaign, Eko Fresh was born in 1983. For comparison: This year’s first-time voters were born between 2000 and 2003. Almost 20 years later. This means that he is five older than the Bundestag election.
And the livestream is also more convincing than the campaign that actually prepares for it. The most important topics were discussed by experts for three hours, and the first-time voters invited were allowed to comment. The viewers were also involved with the help of a chat function. The moderators juggled all elements of the show authentically and sympathetically. This time, the opportunity was also used to point out the lesser-known tools for voting. Finally, the MPs, all under 30, had to answer the questions of the very well-informed first-time voters. A heated discussion between all parties represented in the Bundestag – except for the AfD, which sent no one.
The BPB has pulled out all the stops to encourage young and old first-time voters to vote. Good idea, but there was a lack of implementation. What exactly was part of the campaign now? The interaction of the individual components is difficult to see, educational videos get lost in detailed knowledge. Banal basic rules of a social media campaign for young people were disregarded, previous tutoring in this regard would certainly not have harmed the BPB. Nonetheless, elective tutoring can work. At the latest the livestream turned things around again. And the message was right the whole time: “Get up, go out, put your cross.”