Talking Dutch: There’s more than one Antwerp
A promotional video that failed to show the real Antwerp has been overtaken on YouTube by amateur versions that aim to set the record straight
Derek Blyth on diversity
The three-minute clip (pictured) was called Moving Antwerp. It has already been watched more than 35,500 times on YouTube. (Not bad, you might think, although a long way short of the 15 million hits generated by a clip of a flashmob dancing to Julie Andrews’ Do Re Mi in Antwerp’s Central Station.)
But Moving Antwerp didn’t please everyone who saw it. Het leidt tot heel wat commotie op sociale media omdat het een wel erg “blank” beeld van de Antwerpse bevolking zou geven – it sparked off a huge amount of criticism on social media because it gave the impression that Antwerp was very “white”.
The city administration agreed that the film didn’t show Antwerp in all its diversity, but that wasn’t the goal, it argued. Het filmpje was niet voor het brede publiek of de media bedoeld, maar heeft een erg specifieke business-to-business doelstelling – The clip wasn’t intended for the general public or the media, but for a very specific business-to-business purpose, said a spokesperson for the tourist department. The focus, he continued, wordt op bepaalde aspecten van de stad zoals de haven, musea of de diamantsector, was on certain aspects of the city such as the port, museums and the diamond sector.
He went on to promise that the city would be making more films later in the year to focus on other aspects of Antwerp. Eind dit jaar willen we echter naar buiten komen met een bredere marketingstrategie waarin alle facetten wél evenwichtig voorkomen – We plan to launch a broader marketing strategy at the end of the year in which all the various facets will be presented in a balanced way.
But maybe that won’t be necessary, because several young Antwerp filmmakers have produced short clips that portray the city as they see it. Mahmoud Al Azzawi took just a few days to put together Moving Antwerp Part 2 using friendly multicultural faces and the sentimental 1917 Flemish song Daar is maar één Vlaanderen – There’s Only One Flanders.
Comics Othman Azzouz and Hamid Hajjab uploaded a second film called Moving the Real Antwerp, in which they showed young people from diverse backgrounds giving a one-finger salute. A third film called We are from Antwerp found young people in the street dancing to Pharrell Williams’ Happy.
The city now has four promotional films on YouTube. The one it paid for has been viewed 35,500 times, while the three it didn’t pay for have been seen nearly twice that many times, collectively. But none of the new clips is likely to beat the one that shows people bursting into song in Central Station.
Photo: YouTube
