The Loss of Freedom Is Never Obvious at First

“Trust the Free Press. Not Pretty Words.” That’s the message from Reporters Without Borders Germany. To commemorate the group’s 30th anniversary, Innocean Berlin in collaboration with Stink Films Berlin produced a series of moving films, plus posters, digital out-of-home, and social media.

The three films in the campaign are powerful cinematic expressions of what’s at stake today. It takes truth to grow freedom, and both are in peril. The stakes are high.

In the three films, we hear segments from the very first speeches of Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Nicolás Maduro, each filled with pretty promises about safeguarding freedom and democracy.

The initiative comes at a pivotal moment for democracy—2024 is the biggest electoral year in history, with over 80 countries holding elections and an estimated 4 billion voters heading to the polls.

These spots are topical and compelling. The music works exceptionally well and the cinematography by Konrad Losch portrays the people of Venezuela, Turkey, and Russia as they tune into their newly elected leaders. It’s easy to feel for the people, who are people just like us, people going about their daily routines.

The campaign is a strong reminder that people everywhere want to believe and belong. It also reminds us how autocrats see opportunity in this human desire. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, autocracies continue to adapt and evolve, marked by the growing use of polarization as a political strategy, the continuing rise of misinformation, and the surge in military coups.

Did you know that the world is almost evenly divided between 91 democracies and 88 autocracies? Yet, 71% of the world’s population – 5.7 billion people – live in autocracies of one sort or another – an increase from 48% ten years ago.

With freedom of the press and freedom itself on the line, the need for this campaign is great. We are all fed loaded narratives by corporate and political interests and we rely on the work of journalists (who sometimes risk their lives) to help make sense of it all. In this case, the journalists at Reporters Without Borders Germany enlisted the help of expert brand storytellers to help tell their story. I like it when storytellers help storytellers tell important stories.