German government ad hails couch potatoes as coronavirus heroes

The video, which parodies a documentary, calls people heroes for staying on their couch and “being as lazy as raccoons.”|
ELISSA CHUDWIN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

An ad released by the German government thanking couch potatoes for social distancing during the pandemic has gone viral.

The video, which parodies a documentary, features a senior citizen looking back on the winter of 2020 and discussing how he became a hero.

“Suddenly the fate of the country was in our hands,” he said in the video. “We mustered all our courage and did what was expected of us. The only right thing. We did ... nothing. Absolutely nothing ― being as lazy as raccoons.”

The video has been watched more than 900,000 times on the German government’s YouTube channel as of Thursday. It is one of three included in the ad campaign, but the only video that has been translated into English.

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