A German ad asks, in a time of national crisis, did you do what your nation asked of you? Did you do nothing? Cheeky and effective.

Source: Associated Press

The German government has released a tongue-in-cheek ad hailing an unlikely hero in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic: the humble couch potato.

The 90-second video posted online Saturday begins with an elderly man recalling his ‘service’ to the nation back when he was just a young student “in the winter of 2020, when the whole country’s eyes were on us.”

“I had just turned 22 and was studying engineering,” he continues, “when the second wave hit.”

With violins stirring at viewers’ heartstrings, the setting switches to a scene of the narrator as a young man.

“Suddenly the fate of this country lay in our hands,” he says. “So we mustered all our courage and did what was expected of us, the only right thing. We did nothing.”

Another ad, albeit without subtitles, is also being shown.