For weeks, the Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang party has been using the image of a South African model on their 'Make Flanders ours again' election campaign posters.
Vlaams Belang campaign posters are prominent on the streets, but unlike other parties, they do not feature photos of their candidates. For the far-right party, the focus is on a uniform poster, with the slogan 'Make Flanders ours again' and a picture of a blonde woman, with a blonde boy's arms around her neck.
The woman is not named on the poster, and voting for her is not possible. The Vlaams Belang poster was created using a stock image shot in South Africa, and the woman in the picture is not a member or a supporter of the party but a South African model.
Contacted by Het Nieuwsblad, the woman said she is not happy that her image was used by a political party. "As a model, you have little to no say in when or where those images are used. For that reason, I have stopped doing such shoots for years," she told the newspaper.
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The photo will now gradually disappear from the streetscape.
On Monday, Vlaams Belang launched a new campaign for the last three-week stretch to the elections on 9 June. The aim is to replace as many signs and posters using the stock photo as possible with a large image of party leader Tom Van Grieken.
"Personal branding has become very important in politics," said political marketeer Reinout Van Zandycke. "And Van Grieken has been in the top three most popular politicians across the territory for some time."
