A BERLIN ad campaign featuring an elderly woman sticking up her middle finger at people who flout mask-wearing rules has sparked controversy.
The arresting image of the woman’s obscene hand gesture, coupled with the words “The raised index finger for all those without a mask” aims to spotlight the need to protect the elderly during the pandemic.
Visit Berlin’s ad campaign has raised eyebrows for obvious reasons
But critics have blasted the ad on social media, with one Twitter user writing in German calling it a “waste of money” and “pure propaganda”.
Another called the poster “vulgar and dishonourable” and an “insult”.
The “We obey the corona rules” ad, launched by the Berlin Senate and Visit Berlin, initially appeared on Tuesday in a local newspaper, but has snowballed on social media.
Christian Tänzler, spokesman for Visit Berlin, said the poster is to remind people to follow mask-wearing rules in the city, where more than 19,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
A uniform minimum 50 euro fine was launched nationwide on August 27, with exemptions for medical reasons, after states across Germany took wildly different approaches to dealing with people who flouted rules.
COVID-19 DEATHS
236 people had died in connection with Covid-19 in Berlin up to Tuesday (Oct 13), some 2.4 per cent of Germany’s total 9,752 deaths.
“Most Berliners and our guests respect and follow the corona rules but some people don’t. These people risk the lives of older people and people from the at-risk community,” he told the BBC.
“We wanted to give attention to this problem. For this reason we have chosen this provocative motif.
“Berliners are very well known for their direct communication. We use it in a very direct way to communicate to exactly the people who are not respecting the rules.”
Germany officially introduced rules on mask-wearing on public transport and when out shopping at the end of August, as part of measures to stall the spread of the virus.
The mask rule – known as the Maskenpflicht in German – has been in force in Berlin since April 27 but over the summer the Berlin public transport service, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), said its staff had spotted around 30,000 violations of the mask rules in three weeks.
Lorenz Maroldt, editor-in-chief of Berlin’s Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, said he doubted how successful the ad would be.
Most read in World News
“The Senate seem to think that insulting people is more successful than strict, clear rules with efficient controls. They failed with that completely,” he said.
Mask-wearing has proved a contentious issue across the world, with anti-mask rallies taking place in countries including the US, Australia, Canada, Italy and the UK.
On Saturday (Oct 10), five people were arrested and a police officer injured during an anti-mask protest in central London, while anti-maskers burned face coverings during violent demonstrations in New York last week.
