Journalism works! After the FAZ reported on Saturday that the photos that the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder had published on Instagram on the past Sundays in Advent – each showing him lighting a candle – could all have been taken on a single November day, since Söder on each photo wearing the same jumper and shirt, on the fourth Sunday of Advent he posted a picture of himself with the advent wreath where he’s actually wearing a different jumper – and what a jumper!
The likeness of Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, is emblazoned on Söder’s broad chest, along with snow crystals and a red background, which a journalist from the posh Hamburg weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” on Twitter to the hopefully hasty languor: “I’m dying.”
It seems as if Söder, who has previously communicated mainly through his coffee cup motifs (“Winter is coming”), is increasingly relying on his outerwear for political image building. In some circles, his zip-up jackets, which he wears under his jacket and which his closest employees have long advised against, are regarded as a “cult”.
But how did this last photo, which surprised many, come about? Of course, it cannot be completely ruled out that the campaign was designed with this climax in mind from the start. Future generations of historians will have to search archives to see whether the CSU had already produced a Fourth Advent photo in which Söder was wearing the traditional sweater.
It is more likely, however, that he and his team felt compelled to change their plans as a result of the FAZ’s reporting and gratefully accepted the hint in the relevant article that humor would be a way out. So the year that began with the correspondent’s complaint that Markus Söder probably no longer reads him has a happy ending.
