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Cultural events that aim to awe the world into liking Germany, fail. They think they impress with how serious Germany is about cultural excellence. The problem is: nobody ever doubted Germans could be serious.

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The elephant of "do the Germans even know how we see them?" stays firmly in the room. It's been in the room for decades. It's a very old elephant and very bored in that same old room.

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If you're a German organization that knows how crucial it is to win hearts and minds, I Can Make You German is your new most powerful tool.

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Average modern Germans know this: it's being able to laugh at your imperfections that makes you loveable.

Laughing at your flaws and foibles shows you know them, you're bigger than them, you own them, they're now dealt with. And now others know and appreciate your strengths much more than while your flaws were still the elephant in the room.

Average modern Germans know this. So why does German culture still live in fear of something that would elevate it to true global affection?
 

The exclusively German disability of maintaining that laughter and depth are mutually exclusive. "Those who laugh didn't understand the deeper meaning!" – "Yes they did, they just don't pompously dwell on it. They're self-assured enough to presume others already know they're smart."

Solemn perfection may make great cars. With uncannily low emissions. But it doesn't win you friends or inspire others to your point of view.

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(Individual German people are much better at this)

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Chesterton quote here? Or in "Understanding"? Or only on the corporate site? Make it more light-hearted. It's a first draft. People come here because they already want it. Enter the crucial information and assurance they really want. Don't make words. (see Remarkable, "Making the website"

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Argh. Hm. The pain is more in Germany's image! Not in the method (solemn perfection vs. hearts and minds). But in the painful fact (or imagination) that "nobody likes us". We have the potential of being loved but we just never realize it.

That is exactly what ICMYG does: it shows people the "crazy, charming mishap of a country" that is Germany behind the veneer of Exportweltmeister and ________. 

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It goes against every German instinct: laughingly acknowledging your shortcomings and joking about your foibles, being open about being imperfect will make you human. Likeable. One of us. It makes you bigger than your flaws and it makes everybody to only see your strengths (everybody has known those for decades but just resented you for them), but also appreciate them.

Instead, the elephant of "Do the Germans even know how we see them?" stays firmly in the room. It's been in the room for decades. It's a very old elephant and very bored. Have mercy on the elephant – book now! / Have a heart, book now. Do it for the elephant.

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A Germany that can laugh at its flaws is the Germany the world can fall in love with. It's once we can joke about our weaknesses that the world will properly respect us, see us as humans, and finally value and trust our strengths instead of secretly resenting them. Nobody wants to agree with the unpopular kid – especially when they're right.