Adolph Hitler is almost certainly history’s most-hated person. And yet, as you probably heard earlier this year, there’s been some concern about European nationalists and others around the world attempting to repair the lead Nazi’s image after his book Mein Kampf was published in Germany for the first time since 1945.
The Berlin offices of Ogilvy & Mather want to make clear that Germans are having none of it.
In January, the company released a book titled Mein Kampf gegen Rechts, or “My Struggle…Against Racism” to counter the publicity surrounding the re-release, and this week they released a corresponding case study video that is fairly self-explanatory.
As some of the video’s subjects put it, this is a movement not only against anti-Muslim sentiments in certain areas of European society but also against “general right-wing trends” led by such figures as France’s Marine Le Pen and Germany’s Frauke Petry.
These are the same sorts of trends that led Forsman & Bodenfors copywriter Eva Råberg to protest Facebook’s failure to regulate anti-immigrant groups late last year by sharing a topless photo of herself in making a point about double standards and censorship.
It may not seem like a necessary project for an ad agency, but the fascist movement in Europe is real and it is not at all encouraging.
CREDITS
Campaign: Mein Kampf – gegen Rechts
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Berlin
Exec. Creative Directors: Tim Stübane, Birgit van den Valentyn
Creative Directors: Björn Kernspeckt, Sebastian Kraus, Daniela Schmidt, Stese Wagner
Art Directors: Matthias Bauer, Philipp Bertisch, Andreas Richter, Stephan Westerwelle, Joschka Wolf, Collja Lorig, Michael Mogk
Copywriters: Janne Sachse, Anke Roell
Client Service Director: Stephen Kimpel
Account: Iskra Velichkova, Carsten Kaiser, Patricia Podewin
Editor: Lutz Meier
Art Buyer: Martina Diederichs
Photographer Dominik Butzmann
Agency Producer: Georg Ilse
Postproduction Press: Simon Geis/vividgreyde, Schröderstraße 9, 10115 Berlin
Film Production: Tony Petersen Film GmbH, Brunnenstraße 181, 10119 Berlin
Regie/Director: Florian Baeker
Social Media Strategy: Rochus Landgraf
Programmer: Robert Georgi
Publishing House: Europa Verlag, Berlin/München/Wien
Publisher: Christian Strasser
Public Relations: Claus-Martin Carlsberg, Barbara Stang
Ogilvy Public Relations: Anna-Karina Berels, Anna-Lena Daniels, Laura Kolb, Julia Steckel
Media Planning/Buying: Mindshare/Christian Scholz, Dietmar Birkner/Kinetic Worldwide Germany GmbH