Civic Duty, Champagne, and a Bathtub

Palina Rojinski—Russian-German actress, presenter, and reliably one of the most photographed women at any event she attends—decided that the best way to explain how German federal elections work was to get naked in a bathtub and do it over a glass of champagne. Hard to argue with the pedagogy.

This was for #Gerwomany, a campaign by German Vogue to get women voting in the 2017 Bundestag election. The idea was to recruit recognizable faces—influencers, pop singers, YouTube personalities—and have them make the case for civic participation in whatever register came naturally. Lena Meyer-Landrut, who won Eurovision for Germany in 2010 and thus qualifies as a national treasure, was involved. So was Caro Daur. Palina got in a bath.

She covers the basics: when election day is, the difference between Germany’s two-ballot system—first vote for the local candidate, second for the party—and how many constituencies there are. It’s civics class, except the teacher is in bubbles and there’s cake somewhere nearby. I watched with the persistent, charitable hope that she might shift position slightly and accidentally go full #FreeTheNipple. She did not. Doesn’t matter. The information was genuinely clear, the whole thing was funnier than it had any right to be, and the German electoral system is confusing enough that any delivery vehicle that makes it stick is welcome.