Captain Euro
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Captain Euro is a website and public relations research campaign project to test citizen's attitudes towards European Union branding.
The campaign, website and all the characters were created by Nicolas De Santis of the consulting firm Twelve Stars Corporate Vision Strategists for the EU. Twelve Stars was already working for the EU in various identity research projects including with the European Parliament. These projects clearly showed the necessity to test with a 'real' project citizen attitudes to a future Europe.
The Captain Euro® project was created, privately funded and used by Twelve Stars to research how Europeans and other nations felt about the EU, and EU identity and citizenship.
The project centers around "Captain Euro" a superhero character who dresses in a costume which features elements of the European Union flag, including the Twelve Stars motif. Elements of the character are clearly reminiscent of Marvel Comics' Captain America (the similar "Captain" moniker and patriotic costume) and Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Captain Scarlet (both feature a team of international adventurers operating from a central base).
When it was launched in the 1990's, the Captain Euro project became an overnight sensation and made the cover of the Wall Street Journal and was featured in global TV news media. Simple Minds dedicated their City Lights theme to Captain Euro. The Captain Euro project continues to engage people from around the world and the website receives thousands of international visits to this day.
With the Captain Euro research project, Twelve Stars analysed that citizens did not understand the European project, the EU institutions or their mission. Most importantly, the symbols of the EU, like the European flag, the choice of Beethoven’s 9th symphony as the EU anthem or the fact that the 9th of May was Europe’s day, failed to resonate with most Europeans.
Captain Euro managed to capture the popular culture in many countries, Europe's Superhero has been used in various Pro-European campaigns to promote Europe to its citizens. In the UK, The Sun Newspaper uses it regularly as a feature when it needs to discuss European matters with humour. Eurosceptics use it to attack Brussels when convenient. Captain Euro is hated and loved at the same time.
The project raises the question of how federal or constitutionally driven Europe should be.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Captain Euro (real name Adam Andros) is the son of "a famous European Ambassador", a professor of palaeontology and a polyglot. After a motor accident one of his knees was replaced with a metal alloy joint, but he is otherwise "in peak physical condition".
He runs the Twelve Stars Organisation, a group which seeks to "defend the security of Europe and uphold the values of the Union".
His team-mates include his sidekick Europa (real name Donna Eden) an environmentalist and archaeologist and assistants Erik, Helen, Marcus, Lupo the dog and the computer system Pythagoras I.
The website claims that "they are the new ambassadors of global peace bearing the European message with them wherever they go." They also apparently represent Europe at sporting events "competing in a number of championships and triumphing in the name of Europe."
The major foe of the organisation is Dr. D. Vider, who hopes to divide the European Union so that he can more easily conquer it.
