Challenge
Weapon of Mass Information
The stakes are high in the national, European and regional elections on the 9th of June 2024. Polls predict a major victory for Belgium's far-right Vlaams Belang (VB) party.
The collective Ons.Vlaanderen (Our.Flanders) decided not to let this pass without a fight and to challenge Vlaams Belang directly. They approached Docwerkers to devise a series of videos informing voters about this party's danger to democracy.
Approach
Research and Planning as Basis
We ploughed through academic research and studied successful grassroots campaigns against right-wing extremism at home and abroad. We drew inspiration from humorous educational films against truancy and the British tradition of packaging public service messages as horror films.
On this basis, we came up with creative angles for different themes and target groups.
The videos had to be finished in record time, but thanks to the steady hand of our producers and the commitment of our freelancers, everything went according to plan.
Approach
Various Videos for Different Target Groups
In a first salvo of six videos, fictional Flemish business leaders, played by actors, express their admiration for the Vlaams Belang (VB) party. They debunk the idea that the VB is a social party.
Four other videos sketch a dark future in which the party is in power in 2027. Abortion appears to have become almost impossible, and gay teachers have been fired after complaints from parents via a 'woke-click line'.
What connects a jogger, a fly and a cathedral in Antwerp? The apotheosis is a film full of absurd humour aimed at young people voting for the first time. We see how a vote for the far-right has unforeseen consequences.
RESULT
A Campaign with Guts
'Flanders belongs to us again' is the election slogan of Vlaams Belang. The Ons.Vlaanderen (Our.Flanders) collective built on this with videos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube to inform about the VB programme.
More than a million Flemish internet users watched an Ons.Vlaanderen video all the way through. The campaign was heavily discussed in the press and provoked exasperated reactions at the top of the VB.
The VB achieved a much worse election result than the polls predicted. Under the motto 'many little ones make a big one', this success may also be partly attributed to Ons.Vlaanderen, right?
