Social media
Tiktoker satirizes German customs in short videos
The influencer Liam Carpenter is now a full-time content creator. photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
Ventilate quickly, take away deposits or separate waste – more or less typical German habits are a hit on social media. A British Tiktoker uploaded his first video about it three years ago.
Liam Carpenter stands in front of his cell phone, it’s stuck in a tripod. He briefly checks the settings, goes through his text, and then it starts. The British native presses play and says with a German accent: “In Germany we don’t say.” A sentence that has given Liam around 2.2 million followers on Tiktok in the past three years.
Carpenter uploaded his first video in February 2021. “Almost a million views on the first video. It was such an adrenaline rush that I just had to keep going.” Liam is now a full-time content creator. In his contributions he slips into different roles, always there: the cliché German in a gray jogging suit with a black cap, with a fanny pack and Birkenstock shoes. He also uploads his videos to social media channels such as Instagram and YouTube.
The social media trend
Carpenter is part of a social media phenomenon: influencers are taking aim at German habits – even though or precisely because they usually don’t come from Germany. Liam is convinced that this is why the format works so well: “It works because I make my content about the differences between English and German things.”
This is reflected in the countless “In Germany we don’t say…” videos and the reactions to them. Influencers from the USA such as Zac Ryan and Zack Bachelor, who have been living in Stuttgart for a few years, also discuss in their videos the German customs they have become accustomed to: the “digestive walk”, the “There is no such thing as bad weather, just the “wrong clothes” mentality or “reserving loungers” on vacation. German influencers are also picking up on the trend and not taking themselves too seriously.
The successful concept behind the trend
The communication scientist at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS, Bochum), Josephine B. Schmitt, sees the reason for the success of this social media trend primarily in the feeling that it creates among users: “Such offers create a feeling of belonging and emphasize one’s own social identity.” Things would be portrayed that many people know in different ways.
The humorous portrayal is a decisive factor because it creates distance: “You don’t necessarily have to identify with the cliché or the peculiarities. But you definitely know people in your environment to whom this applies.”
In his work, Liam is aware of the fine line between amusement and insult. He explains why the 27-year-old gets predominantly positive feedback from his followers, who are often German, as follows: “In my videos, the Brit is the biggest fool, not the German. The German shows him how it’s done. That’s why I think that it’s a good balance.”
According to the communication scientist, one of the reasons why this format is so successful, especially on Tiktok, is because the videos are entertaining and easily accessible. “This means that they are disseminated, shared, quoted and commented on more quickly,” says Schmitt.
“Well Germanized”
The former basketball professional Liam, actually from England, now lives in Crailsheim (Schwäbisch Hall district) with his wife and two dogs. In his ten years in his adopted homeland, German habits have left their mark on him: “I’m so well versed in German. Sometimes I feel like an outsider in England. For example, I always wait at the traffic light until it turns green My friends then ask me: “What are you doing? What’s wrong with you?”