I want Europe

I want Europe is a social marketing campaign aimed at positive thinking and a pro-European attitude between August 2012 and February 2013. It was launched as part of the Committed Europeans initiative by other foundations, with the involvement of several media companies. The campaign is carried out by the entrepreneurial foundations Stiftung Mercator and Robert Bosch Stiftung .

Content and method

The initiative launched a media campaign in August 2012, which is intended to make a positive commitment to Europe with emotional statements and in which German celebrities as well as large German media houses (and their offshoots) participated. The campaign ran for 3.5 months. Thematically, achievements such as freedom of travel, peace, freedom, education, respect, cultural diversity etc. are used. The aim was to stimulate a discussion primarily via the Internet. The patron is the Federal President Joachim Gauck ; his keynote address on Europe on February 22, 2013, to which several campaign ambassadors were invited, marked the end of the campaign.

Initiators and sponsors of the campaign

The foundation is supported by the largest German foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung and Stiftung Mercator . They form corporate foundations with connections to Robert Bosch GmbH and the Schmidt-Ruthenbeck family of entrepreneurs . The campaign was initiated under the title “Engaged Europeans” by a group of foundations expanded to include these foundations, which in turn are affiliated with the company: Allianz Kulturstiftung , Bertelsmann Foundation , BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt , Hertie Foundation , as well as the private Schering Foundation and other private foundations funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Mercator Foundation: Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe , Foundation Future Berlin . The Genshagen Foundation, also funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation, is the only foundation under public law. The donors here are the state of Brandenburg and the federal government . Independent associations are not among the initiators or sponsors. The Europa-Union Germany supports the campaign retrospectively. The Berlin agency Blumberry is the idea, project and implementation partner for the campaign.

Media partner

TV station groups RTL Television and ProSiebenSat.1 Media as well as the publishers Axel Springer , Gruner + Jahr , Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Süddeutscher Verlag , Spiegel Verlag , WAZ-Mediengruppe and Zeit Verlag as well as Google . The public service broadcasters , however, refused to participate.

criticism

The initiative is financially supported only by tax-subsidized corporate foundations with the help of large media companies. Nevertheless, the former Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer accused his incumbent successor Guido Westerwelle of taking possession of the campaign, although the Foreign Office had been planning to collaborate with initiatives for a long time. The poor effect on social media is also criticized. A superficiality in the content of the statements is also complained about, which could have a counterproductive effect if the German population was unsettled by the euro crisis .

See also

• You are Germany

Web links

• I want Europe - the initiative of the committed Europeans. August 23, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012 . 
• Mehrdad Amirkhizi: "I want Europe" - celebrities stand up for Europe. HORIZONT.NET, August 23, 2012, accessed on August 25, 2012 . 
• Claudia Ehrenstein: Prominent Germans are fighting for a European idea. Die Welt , August 23, 2012, accessed on August 25, 2012 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christine Ehrig: “I want Europe” foundation campaign ends: initiators draw positive conclusions. Stiftung Mercator, February 22, 2013, accessed on March 12, 2012 . 
2. ^ Speech on Europe opens "Bellevue Forum". Office of the Federal President, February 22, 2013, accessed on March 12, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Europa-Union supports the "I want Europe" initiative. (No longer available online.) Europa-Union Germany, August 30, 2012, archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; Retrieved September 1, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Mehrdad Amirkhizi: "I want Europe" - celebrities stand up for Europe. HORIZONT.NET, August 23, 2012, accessed on August 25, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Jan Schlüter: Pro-Europe campaign not on ARD and ZDF. quotenmeter.de, August 31, 2012, accessed September 1, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Sandra Tjong: Anger about the pro-Europe campaign Angry fisherman does not want to be on the photo with Westerwelle. Focus, August 16, 2012, accessed August 25, 2012 . 
7. ↑ "I want Europe" - help shape it! European Movement Germany , August 22, 2012, accessed on August 25, 2012 . 
8. ^ Germany: Criticism of "I want Europe" in social media. ReadersEdition, August 23, 2012, archived from the original on September 14, 2012 ; Retrieved September 1, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Sarah Sommer : Europe fears Germany's leading role. manager magazin , September 12, 2012, accessed on September 20, 2012 .