Start loving yourselves already
Native writer Florian Langenscheidt appears to be mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. Apparently tired of screaming to a deaf nation through any open window he could find about how wonderful Germany really and truly is, it finally struck him that he could write a book about it instead. And to the shock and dismay of the public at large (not), he actually found a native publisher who was willing to put it out on the market.
“Das Beste an Deutschland” (The Best Things about Germany) offers the native reader 250 reasons to love his or her native country. As you can see, in Langenscheidt’s view Dachshunds, pretzels and Heidi Klum are among them and quickly bring the number down to 247. What you don’t see, at least not at first glance, is that over 70 of the other remaining reasons are well-known “native” brands. Giant, international native brands. Like, well, Heidi Klum herself (she was made in a German laboratory, though). I mean, is the Mercedes star really German anymore? Is Coca Cola American?
The whole thing is about branding, of course. Only this is branding that you can actually buy and take home with you. It’s a branding of the branding. You get to pay twice, in other words.
That Germany needs to reinvent itself branding-wise is certainly nothing new, at least in terms of what its own citizens have to think about the country. But with the World Cup approaching in just two weeks, Germany needs desperately to “put on a happy face” it seems - as in right now - and still doesn’t know how.
I recommend picking it up. This might possibly be the first self-help book ever written for an entire nation and could turn out to be quite a collector’s item. And seriously, let’s face it. The guy’s got his heart in the right place. It’s better to try too hard than not to try at all
Mir wird warm ums Herz. Ich gehe am besten gleich zum Arzt, oder?
Kommentare auf Deutsch immer gern gesehen!
