The latest round of German parliamentary elections is right around the corner, and yet if it were not for the occasional poster or television advertisement, one would never know that the most powerful political seat in Europe is up for grabs; conspicuously absent are the last-minute publicity stunts, mud-slinging, and yellow journalism that so typify high-profile elections in the United States.
In stark contrast to the billion-dollar campaigns run by Barack Obama and Mitt Romney leading up to the 2012 presidential election, Germany’s major parties both expect to spend between $26 and $33 million over the course of the entire campaign. In any American swing state, let alone the entire country, spending so little money would be utterly unthinkable. Neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party could hope to win an election while campaigning on such a tight budget.
In Germany, however, parties can–and do–win with modest budgets and comparatively little public exposure. Thanks to laws and cultural norms that dictate a limited media presence, the average German sees far fewer advertisements than do their American counterparts. According to a September 13 Politico article entitled Imagine This: In Germany, one TV ad per candidate, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany’s largest and most powerful party, will run its one and only television advertisement 176 times this election season. By comparison, some 219,000 advertisements were run in Ohio alone during the 2012 presidential campaign. Florida recorded similarly gaudy numbers; total spending on advertisements surpassed $160 million.
The same Politico article then goes on to explain the dearth of advertising during the German election cycle; “Part of the reason for the stark difference in TV advertising is the way German system works: each party is allotted a certain amount of airtime on the two public TV networks, ZDF and ARD, based on their vote share in the last election and the number of members in their party. For the major parties, the CDU and the SPD, that’s eight times on each channel — over the entire course of the campaign. Ads for the smaller parties — the Greens, the Free Democratic Party and the Left Party — will run four times each on ARD and ZDF.”
Furthermore, German political advertisements strike a decidedly different tone than do most in the United States. Absent from the vast majority of German ads is negativity; according to an article published by the Economist on August 25 entitled Posters everywhere but no attack ads, the author says negativity is absent mainly “because the Germans really don’t want to go there. If anybody were to get personal and nasty on an American scale, he or she would get society’s red card and be out. This may be the best thing about German democracy.”
Similarly intriguing is the actual content of German political ads. Typically, according to Politico, “instead of myriad ads on different topics featuring different people, each party in Germany typically releases just one main minute-and-a-half ad for the entire election. The ad from Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, capitalizing on Merkel’s high level of personal popularity, features the chancellor speaking directly to the camera for 90 seconds.” By comparison, the opposition party (SPD) “released an ad showing regular people speaking at a podium in all different cities across the country, with only a short shot of SPD chancellor candidate Peer Steinbr�ck at the end. ‘Peer Steinbr�ck didn’t want to be the focal point of our ads,’ SPD General Secretary Andreas Nahles said when the ad was released. ‘He explicitly wanted these ads to be about regular people and their genuine concerns.'”
This is, perhaps, a good move for Steinbr�ck, as he has largely failed to ingratiate himself with the public. Less charismatic than Merkel and infamous for giving highly paid speeches, his name does not exactly warm the hearts of the working class. Nevertheless, Steinbr�ck’s party has not resorted to mudslinging in order to chip away at Merkel’s impressive lead in the polls. The most controversial posters in Berlin promote relatively benign ideas by U.S. standards, with the CDU saying “Germany is strong and shall remain so.” and the SPD saying “the ‘we’ decides.” Even fringe parties such as die Linke, a DDR-remnant, are no more provocative than “Sharing is fun: millionaires’ tax!”
By some standards, this may make for a sleepy election. But sleepy or not, the Bundeswahl is very much worth paying attention to, as the chancellor-to-be will be tasked with guiding a divided Europe out of the ongoing euro crisis. For the currency and the political union to survive, a deft hand is necessary, be it the center-right hand of Merkel or the center-left hand of Steinbr�ck.
Location: Krausnickstraße, Berlin, Germany
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Imagine that, running a political campaign without spending billions and no mud-slinging. That is one thing about American politics that I really detest. I would love to see one commercial that actually tells me where a candidate stands on the issues. We need to take a hint from our European friends. Can you just imagine what our politicians would do if they only had 90 seconds to ‘state their case’ and mud-slinging was not allowed? I have to giggle just thinking about it. I plan on studying abroad again in Germany next academic year, and now I’m looking forward to it even more. Thanks, Ian!
The contrast between the German and American election campaign styles you explain here is well-researched and incredibly intriguing! I hope one day Americans can construct a society where politicians bringing up personal attacks and using “dirty” rhetoric earns them a red card (but I’m pretty pessimistic about that happening in my lifetime). I wish I were fortunate enough to be here during election season– I’m jealous!
One thing I’ve noticed in my time in France is that there are constantly political posters everywhere, on campus in particular. There are very active socialist and anarchist groups announcing strikes, weekly meetings, faire-type events, and more. On the way to campus, plastered all over the place, were posters declaring “François Hollande is against family [values].” So far, this kind of negative reaction against in elected official is the only comparable instance I’ve seen to American politics.
The contrast between the German and American election campaign styles you explain here is well-researched and incredibly intriguing! I hope one day Americans can construct a society where politicians bringing up personal attacks and using “dirty” rhetoric earns them a red card (but I’m pretty pessimistic about that happening in my lifetime). I wish I were fortunate enough to be here during election season– I’m jealous!
One thing I’ve noticed in my time in France is that there are constantly political posters everywhere, on campus in particular. There are very active socialist and anarchist groups announcing strikes, weekly meetings, faire-type events, and more. On the way to campus, plastered all over the place, were posters declaring “François Hollande is against family [values].” So far, this kind of negative reaction against in elected official is the only comparable instance I’ve seen to American politics.