Russian media outlet Meduza cynically used footage of the war in Ukraine for its advertising

The Russian “liberal” press in exile cynically used 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.

A Russian Meduza commercial with footage of the war in Ukraine was created in Germany
Ukrainian director Iryna Tsilyk reported this on her Facebook page.

It was filled 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 you know what it all boils down to in the climax? “We were kicked out. We were arrested. We LOST FUNDING”. (caps lock mine). Iryna Tsilyk, Ukrainian director

According to Tsilyk, Ukrainians abroad write that this cynical commercial is 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 Russians are killing Ukrainians, we should sympathize with Russians”.

A member of the Ukrainian public organization «Viche Berlin» also drew attention to this immoral fact Viktoriya Feshak.

She said that she saw an advertisement for «Medusa» in a cinema in Berlin — it used, in particular, 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 the journalists of «Meduza» «face constant threats from the Kremlin, including kidnapping and poisoning», and that is why they created the advertisement «to support the work of brave journalists who risk their lives every day to bring us the truth».

The organization «Viche Berlin» wrote that she was «shocked that a German creative agency is downplaying Russia's responsibility for this war and using the real suffering of Ukrainians to portray Russians as victims». They expressed hope that this campaign would be removed from European cities.

Social media reaction to the Meduza video

In comments on social media, Ukrainians also expressed indignation 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 with Russians, who contributed so much to the victory over Nazism.