The Russian "liberal" press in exile cynically exploited the suffering of Ukrainians for its advertising campaign. The German agency lureberlin created a promotional video for the Russian-language publication Meduza, which caused outrage in Ukrainian society.
Points of attention
- Russian media outlet Meduza faced backlash for using footage of the war in Ukraine for its advertising campaign, viewed as cynical and morally unacceptable.
- The German agency lureberlin created a promotional video for Meduza that exploited the suffering of Ukrainians, sparking outrage in Ukrainian society and drawing sharp criticism from Ukrainian director Iryna Tsilyk and various public organizations.
- The controversial advertisement, featuring footage of explosions in Ukraine and a grieving man at a funeral, has been condemned for portraying Russians as victims and undermining Russia's responsibility for the war.
- The public reaction highlights the inappropriateness of using the real suffering of Ukrainians to promote a Russian publication, with social media users and historians drawing parallels to sensitive historical events.
- The campaign created by the German creative agency Lure has been criticized for glamorizing the risks faced by Meduza journalists and misrepresenting the truth, leading to calls for its removal from European cities.
In Germany, an advertisement for the Russian Meduza was created with footage of the war in Ukraine
Ukrainian director Iryna Tsilyk announced this on her Facebook page.
It filled me with disgust and rage. The German (upd or not?) agency lureberlin created a pro bono video for the Meduza publication. To tell about the suffering of Russian exiles, they generously used footage of the suffering of Ukrainians in their video, including footage from a funeral. And all this mixed with footage of Navalny, because these are the "flames of hope" they have these days. And do you know what it all boils down to in the climax? "We were expelled. We were arrested. We LOST FUNDING." (caps lock mine).
Iryna Tsilyk
Ukrainian director
According to Tsilyk, Ukrainians abroad write that this cynical commercial is being broadcast in German cinemas before film screenings. Corresponding posters have also been put up in Berlin.
As Gorgona Bobrovytska very aptly wrote, "what an interesting message: while the Russians are killing Ukrainians, we should sympathize with the Russians."
Viktoria Feshak, a member of the Ukrainian public organization "Viche Berlin", also drew attention to this immoral fact.
She said that she saw a Meduza advertisement in a cinema in Berlin — it, in particular, used footage of explosions in Ukraine and Yaroslav Bazylevich at the funeral of his wife and three daughters, who died as a result of a Russian missile strike on Lviv on September 4, 2024.
As it turned out, this campaign was developed for the Russian media for free by the German creative agency Lure. They said that “the bold global information campaign is called: ‘Where other headlines end, Meduza begins’”.
The agency says that Meduza journalists "face constant threats from the Kremlin, including kidnapping and poisoning," and that's why they created the ad "to support the work of brave journalists who risk their lives every day to bring us the truth."
The organization “Viche Berlin” wrote that it was “shocked that a German creative agency is downplaying Russia’s responsibility for this war and exploiting the real suffering of Ukrainians to portray Russians as victims.” They expressed hope that the campaign would be removed from European cities.
Social media reaction to the Meduza video
In comments on social media, Ukrainians also expressed outrage that videos depicting the suffering of Ukrainians were used to advertise "Russian liberals."
Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Viatrovych compared this situation to World War II.
History is repeating itself with the coverage of World War II, in which Ukrainian losses are the basis for theses about the impossibility of fighting the Russians, who invested so much in the victory over Nazism.
