In times of selfie culture and social media exposure, beauty and good looks are more important than ever. Anyone who still wants proof of this thesis should go to the Oktoberfest. There you can see every day how much effort the female and male visitors put into their outfits and how millions of times the results achieved are documented on their cell phones. The image must sit well in the real and digital public.
After all, the right styling could also make flirting easier. This doesn’t just apply to the Oktoberfest, politics is also constantly courting the favor of other people. If someone is the Prime Minister of the best and, of course, most beautiful federal state, he logically has to come across that way. The State Chancellery spent almost 180,000 euros in 2022 alone to properly put Markus Söder (CSU) and his entourage in the picture. Even in the federal government, nothing is left to chance. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) invested around 136,000 euros in styling and images in the same year.
This gave rise to bad suspicions among the ÖDP/Munich List opposition faction in Munich. Doesn’t the top of the best and most beautiful state capital always look stunning? So do taxpayers have to pay heavily for the beauty of their representatives here too? More questions immediately pop up: Does Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) get his hair done every morning in a beauty salon behind his office? Did star photographers only photograph him favorably, and did he not lose double-digit weight in the end?
The mayor immediately reassures his citizens. “I am pleased if my public appearances and the corresponding photos on the ÖDP/Munich list give the impression that I am being styled by one or more stylists,” he replied. In Munich, however, the zero euro limit applies in terms of beauty. Or reproduced exactly: “Zero euros for the mayor’s good looks!” This in turn delights the ÖDP. “Our mayor – a real natural beauty!” the group marvels. However, it cannot be assumed that the air is now shimmering between the eco-party and the mayor. Either way, Reiter doesn’t present a good image for the ÖDP when it comes to environmental protection.