Wednesday, November 9th. The first thing I see when I turn on my phone is a WhatsApp message from Klaas, at 05:40 am: “Well, now what?” Good start to the day: Trump has won and is going to be the next POTAS.
Just one and a half weeks earlier, we decided to release Bye, Ministry of Man as a single on November 9th. A nice farewell song to Donald Trump. With a video in which we were adorned with red ties. At the end a clip of footage from the news, the piece in which Trump is supported from stage by his bodyguards. Exit The Donald.
09:52 am. Jan joins in the conversation: “Change the text in Die, Ministry Man!”.
Klaas, Bert and I are still in denial and exchange texts about how much this all is.
10:09 pm, Jan again: ”Change the words of the chorus and sing a new version tonight”. The guy is serious.
10:16 am: “Lie Misery Man”.
Some people have a terrific talent to deal with adversity. January is one of them. What do you mean postponing. Hold on, under the motto “Trump OK, you won, but we still say goodbye!” But wait a minute. Isn’t the song about populists of all countries in general? Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage, Frauke Petry, Trump and all the other rat catchers? Yes it is.
Jan and Hetty make four, five new versions of the video clip. Next, there is heavy debate on the wording. But then, at 05:11 pm, the video is launched with the status update: “We still like to say goodbye to all populist, nationalist, bullshitting politicians in the second single taken from our new album Four.” Friends share the message and the likes are pouring in.
That evening we’re rehearsing in Utrecht. Everyone is upset about Trump’s victory but euphoric about our release. We decide to spend some campaign money to promote the Facebook message. Around midnight, I send a campaign request to Facebook. After 10 minutes, this is t
he answer:
“Hi Hans, your ad is not accepted because it is contrary to our advertising policies. Your ad was not approved because the associated main text / title contains foul language.
Such ads may offend users and cause very negative experiences. The language of the advertisement should focus on the product and not the users. You can post again with these guidelines in mind and try to promote the message. ”
Is that Mark Zuckerberg interfering with The Dutch? So “Grab him by the pussy” is OK but “bullshitting”, golly, that’s foul language?
At 00:17 am Jan replies: “Sick!”
November 11, 2016