BERLIN — Debate is raging in Germany over whether a campaign poster using a now-infamous photograph of Chancellor Angela Merkel in a deep-cut evening gown is cleverly ironic or downright tacky. However you see it, the poster is adding some spice to what is shaping up to be an otherwise dull campaign leading up to German parliamentary elections Sept. 27.
The poster shows a picture of Christian Democrat candidate Vera Lengsfeld, 57, in a low-cut evening gown alongside a well-known 2008 photo of Merkel, the party leader, taken at her appearance at the gala opening of Oslo’s opera house.
“We have more to offer,” reads the slogan under the revealing photos of the two women’s chests — a twist on the Christian Democrats’ official slogan, “We have the power.”
Lengsfeld is vying for a seat in the parliament. She said on her website Thursday the poster had attracted more than 31,000 hits.
