Enterprise underlines Commission's naked ambition

Ralf, Rational arguments don't always win I'm afraid. My experience of public affairs in Brussels suggests that one fights on fact and often loses the argument on emotion in any public debate. Clearly the Commission and the EU has been doing just that - see UK press coverage or Irish referendum. It is necessary to have rational arguments, but often not sufficient. The Commission's videos, either this one or the other Film Lovers Will Love This, are good in my view as they make Europe relevant to normal citizens (not me) in an entertaining way. How many Europeans would have known that the EU funds European cinema if the YouTube video with that message at the end would not have been viewed by circa 8 million people? A few thoughts on why these videos get so much attention in online and traditional media: - They seek to provide an emotional reaction in the audience. In this case they use sex, which as we know sells, in a creative way to get their message across. We are talking about it, so it apparently works. Yes they provoke debate about whether the Commission should be doing it, but I guess that's part of the point. - They don't go on at great lengths about policy. Unlike a lot of the infomercials on EUTube they are able to reach out beyond students who need a crash course in EU climate change policy and Brussels based actors. There are of course other more suitable communications tools available for more detailed rational argumentation. The all encompassing Europa.eu site for one. - They are dissonant with the Commission's own image as a bureaucratic monolith. Who'd have thought that Commission officials have a laugh too? James