Advertising on the lake: State Secretary Schellhorn causes excitement!

Advertising on the lake: State Secretary Schellhorn causes excitement!

Goldegg, Österreich - Neos State Secretary Josef "Sepp" Schellhorn caused excitement with a recently published advertising video. In the clip that advertises the online medium "now.at", he can be seen in swimming trunks on the lake. While he is advertising in a "now" shirt for the medium that is currently looking for 5,000 subscribers, he finally drops backwards into the water. [oe24.at] reports that the reactions to this advertising campaign on social media are predominantly critical.

A user asked the question of whether a government member could advertise for a medium. Furthermore, another person asked whether Schellhorn had no consultant who could support him in such matters. The discussion about his advertising campaigns illustrates the challenges with which political figures are confronted in today's communication landscape.

career by Sepp Schellhorn

Josef Schellhorn, born on May 12, 1967 in Schwarzach im Pongau, is not only a well -known entrepreneur and restaurateur, but also makes talk as a politician. His commitment in politics began in the economic association and the ÖVP at the community level before moving to Neos in 2013. After a time in the National Council from 2014 to 2021, he returned to the National Council on February 28, 2024. Most recently, on March 3, 2025, he was employed as State Secretary for Deregulation in the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs. [wikipedia.org]

In addition to his political career, Schellhorn runs several restaurants and turned to the founding of Schellhorn Consultants GmbH in 2022, which is devoted to the development of projects in the catering and hotel industry. He is also active on social media: since March 2022, he has created cooking videos on Tikkok, which has brought him over 151,000 followers and 2.8 million likes. This development shows how social media also gain in importance in the political context.

The role of social media in political communication

The prevailing discussion about Schellhorn's advertising video reflects a more far-reaching phenomenon: Social media enable political and state institutions to reach a wider audience directly. This creates a hybrid media system in which citizens, politicians and journalists can interact. In this context, the use of platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram is essential. [bpb.de]

The possibility of communicating directly with the voters changes the political landscape. Especially for new parties and outsiders politicians, it can be seen that digital communication formats offer a inexpensive path to visibility and mobilization. At the same time, negative messages on social media can cause more user reactions and increase visibility, even if the effect of such campaign behavior is controversial.

It remains to be seen how Josef Schellhorn's advertising video and the associated critical reactions will affect his political career. The challenges that arise from the use of social media for political communication are more relevant than ever given the fast -paced and often polarized debates.