It must be a turbulent time for the publishing company that publishes the book “Public Relations for Dummies”, because at the latest since the video of the dancing Sanna Marin has been passed through WhatsApp groups, it should be updated as a matter of urgency. The lesson to be added: “If the politician you look after is dancing and being filmed, for heaven’s sake just let him/her keep dancing.”
No reduction in VAT, no jerk speech and no nine-euro ticket has what it takes to polish the reputation of a political figure as casually as the shaky recording of a sequence of steps while music is playing at the same time. Well, a few people predictably complained that what the Finnish Prime Minister was doing as she escalated through an apartment with friends was disgraceful. Marin himself was also contrite, but over the fact that apparently a friend simply shared the private video with the public.
What will remain is something else: So there was a relaxed Sanna Marin dancing to the music of Finnish pop singer Antti Tuisku as if, for once, at least tonight, there was no 1300-kilometer land border with Russia. The phone camera could barely keep up with recording Marin’s dance moves, she was moving so fast. And the viewer received the relieving message: Even in 2022, there is no artificial intelligence behind top politicians, but still a human being who wants to get out of this navy blue blazer case every now and then.
You don’t have to be a social democrat and you don’t have to be younger than 40 to score points as a politician with party videos. The way Donald Trump moved to “YMCA” was delightful, at least in that right-wing and left-wing Americans finally had something to laugh about together. And even Friedrich Merz recently had himself filmed while dancing. At least the CDU youngsters were very impressed.
Only Boris Johnson was probably just unlucky. Ironically, there are only photos and unfortunately no videos of his Partygate excesses.