In the last few weeks, members of the French government have given numerous interviews to the press, but in media platforms not typical for world leaders. The phenomenon has provoked strong reactions among the public. The President of the Republic chose a children’s magazine, while one of his ministers made the cover of the charm magazine, Playboy. Another one was honoured in an LGBT review.
The proximity of these publications to April Fools’ Day aroused scepticism among many French people on social media: were these interviews not simply gags? The denial came from those concerned: these were serious interviews, duly validated by serious and responsible communication services.
Just a few days after the passage of the law on pension reform, which generated a lot of criticism of the executive, particularly on its inability to communicate with the French, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron surprised the public by giving an interview to the children’s magazine Pif Gadget. Long owned by the Communist Party, Pif Gadget, or more simply Pif in its latest version, is a popular quarterly magazine created at the end of the 1960s and known to the French public for its comic strip series and its little dog mascot. In it, Emmanuel Macron blurts out in a silly tone that between the French and him, “there is sometimes joy, sometimes anger, but never indifference.” There is no doubt that the demonstrators who have been beating the pavement for weeks appreciated this expression of presidential affection.
On Thursday, April 6th, it was Minister Marlène Schiappa’s turn to make headlines by appearing on the cover of the French version of Playboy magazine, which is known throughout the world for its daring covers featuring scantily clad young women in enticing poses. Marlène Schiappa, officially secretary of state for social economy and associative life, is no stranger to the spotlight. She has already distinguished herself by publishing several erotic novels—judged by some to be borderline pornographic (who am I to judge?).
The editors of Playboy, who had sent their request for an interview like a bottle in the sea, were the first to dismiss the possibility of booking the woman who has the rank of minister. But Marlène Schiappa is known for liking to mix genres and play with codes—flirting with the licit and the illicit. This was an opportunity for her to address her favourite themes: women’s rights, abortion, and the defence of LGBT people. During the interview, her interlocutor, who was not likely to be a stutterer, admitted that he was blushing at the frankness of the minister’s remarks. Marlène Schiappa also indulged passionately in the inevitable photo shoot and glamorous staging. Her office then carefully selected the photos for publication.
This little public communication exercise was not to everyone’s taste. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne almost choked on the news. She considers the interview “not at all appropriate,” especially in the current extremely tense social context in France. At a time when the French are taking to the streets, queuing at petrol stations in the hope of collecting a drop of overpriced petrol, and struggling to fill their shopping bags, how can they tolerate seeing one of their ministers frolicking in passion-red velvet? “Never mind the outfit, it’s lunacy. It’s not possible,” a ministerial adviser told Le Parisien, fearing that this communication would undermine the government’s efforts to ease tensions with opponents of the pension reform. For her part, Marlène Schiappa’s colleague, the secretary of state for women’s rights Isabelle Rome, was no gentler: “To claim that posing in Playboy will advance the freedom of women, I seriously doubt it. Her own, perhaps. Others’, no,” she said. Choosing Playboy to defend women’s rights when it is a magazine known worldwide for conveying and maintaining every possible sexist cliché about women, is, in her opinion, absolute nonsense: “this magazine will never be an ally of women,” she said.
Finally, let’s not forget the third member of the infernal trio, Minister of Labour Olivier Dussopt, who gave an interview to the LGBT activist magazine Têtu on March 24th. An ardent defender of surrogacy, he used the opportunity to stage his ‘coming out,’ confiding about his doubts, his anxieties, and the upcoming use of the 49.3.
Whether this trio is a losing or a winning one is certainly a matter of opinion in this age of triumphant relativism. In any case, the French were certainly, for a few moments, diverted from their slump by this slapstick comedy played by the political Olympians. The only conclusion we can draw from such political and moral misery is the one we shall borrow from Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, the genius who invented Figaro the barber: “Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’être obligé d’en pleurer” (“I hurry to laugh at everything, lest I be obliged to cry”).
From Pif Gadget To Playboy: Have French Politicians Gone Mad?
In the last few weeks, members of the French government have given numerous interviews to the press, but in media platforms not typical for world leaders. The phenomenon has provoked strong reactions among the public. The President of the Republic chose a children’s magazine, while one of his ministers made the cover of the charm magazine, Playboy. Another one was honoured in an LGBT review.
The proximity of these publications to April Fools’ Day aroused scepticism among many French people on social media: were these interviews not simply gags? The denial came from those concerned: these were serious interviews, duly validated by serious and responsible communication services.
Just a few days after the passage of the law on pension reform, which generated a lot of criticism of the executive, particularly on its inability to communicate with the French, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron surprised the public by giving an interview to the children’s magazine Pif Gadget. Long owned by the Communist Party, Pif Gadget, or more simply Pif in its latest version, is a popular quarterly magazine created at the end of the 1960s and known to the French public for its comic strip series and its little dog mascot. In it, Emmanuel Macron blurts out in a silly tone that between the French and him, “there is sometimes joy, sometimes anger, but never indifference.” There is no doubt that the demonstrators who have been beating the pavement for weeks appreciated this expression of presidential affection.
On Thursday, April 6th, it was Minister Marlène Schiappa’s turn to make headlines by appearing on the cover of the French version of Playboy magazine, which is known throughout the world for its daring covers featuring scantily clad young women in enticing poses. Marlène Schiappa, officially secretary of state for social economy and associative life, is no stranger to the spotlight. She has already distinguished herself by publishing several erotic novels—judged by some to be borderline pornographic (who am I to judge?).
The editors of Playboy, who had sent their request for an interview like a bottle in the sea, were the first to dismiss the possibility of booking the woman who has the rank of minister. But Marlène Schiappa is known for liking to mix genres and play with codes—flirting with the licit and the illicit. This was an opportunity for her to address her favourite themes: women’s rights, abortion, and the defence of LGBT people. During the interview, her interlocutor, who was not likely to be a stutterer, admitted that he was blushing at the frankness of the minister’s remarks. Marlène Schiappa also indulged passionately in the inevitable photo shoot and glamorous staging. Her office then carefully selected the photos for publication.
This little public communication exercise was not to everyone’s taste. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne almost choked on the news. She considers the interview “not at all appropriate,” especially in the current extremely tense social context in France. At a time when the French are taking to the streets, queuing at petrol stations in the hope of collecting a drop of overpriced petrol, and struggling to fill their shopping bags, how can they tolerate seeing one of their ministers frolicking in passion-red velvet? “Never mind the outfit, it’s lunacy. It’s not possible,” a ministerial adviser told Le Parisien, fearing that this communication would undermine the government’s efforts to ease tensions with opponents of the pension reform. For her part, Marlène Schiappa’s colleague, the secretary of state for women’s rights Isabelle Rome, was no gentler: “To claim that posing in Playboy will advance the freedom of women, I seriously doubt it. Her own, perhaps. Others’, no,” she said. Choosing Playboy to defend women’s rights when it is a magazine known worldwide for conveying and maintaining every possible sexist cliché about women, is, in her opinion, absolute nonsense: “this magazine will never be an ally of women,” she said.
Finally, let’s not forget the third member of the infernal trio, Minister of Labour Olivier Dussopt, who gave an interview to the LGBT activist magazine Têtu on March 24th. An ardent defender of surrogacy, he used the opportunity to stage his ‘coming out,’ confiding about his doubts, his anxieties, and the upcoming use of the 49.3.
Whether this trio is a losing or a winning one is certainly a matter of opinion in this age of triumphant relativism. In any case, the French were certainly, for a few moments, diverted from their slump by this slapstick comedy played by the political Olympians. The only conclusion we can draw from such political and moral misery is the one we shall borrow from Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, the genius who invented Figaro the barber: “Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’être obligé d’en pleurer” (“I hurry to laugh at everything, lest I be obliged to cry”).
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