Scandinavian Airlines "What is truly Scandinavian?" commercial pisses off everybody

Not quite a news article, but something interesting I found. A recent advertisement by Scandinavian Airlines, produced by Swedish advertising agencies &Co and funded by The North Alliance, has decided the best way to incite tourist interest in Scandinavia is to assert nothing about the region is unique nor interesting whatsoever. (Archive link here. disregard i am stupid & gay video is presently on Twitter forget it, just watch it here.) It does this in the usual ways, such as undermining all alleged Scandinavian culture (did you know the danish is not Danish, but Austrian?) and having a silly-looking nigger brag about his alleged 'viking ancestry.'

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The comments section is was densely packed with westerners, not just Scandinavians, who reckon this was a stupid idea.



The video is a day old, so there's no telling how long all this gold (or the comical like-dislike ratio) will remain visible. If this sort of thing amuses you, I'd have a look now. They deleted everything. Courtesy of @Venom_X you can video a mirror in this very thread.

SAS is a Scandinavian airline that brings travelers to, from an within Scandinavia. We stand by the core message in the commercial, that travel enriches us.
When we travel, we influence our surroundings and we are influenced by others. The experiences we bring back from our travels inspire us as individuals, but also our society.

When analyzing the pattern and volume of reactions we have reason to suspect an online attack and that the campaign has been hijacked. We do not want to risk being a platform for views that we do not share. We have therefore temporarily removed the film from our channels and we are currently evaluating the next step.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

What is it with Euros trying to assert their superiority by becoming a cargo cult version of the US? You guys can be ethnostates if you want. Actively pillaging from other cultures and constantly evolving is our thing. It's even more bewildering given how you guys look down on the US in every other respect.

 

[Thorvald Stauning]

I know why this fucking ad was approved, in 2016 SAS switched its marketing director from a experienced woman by the name of "Trine kromann" to "Mariam Skovfoged". To the non Danes here this name rings no bell, however she was the head of public relations of the ministry of the environment during the prime minister ship of one the worst prime ministers we have ever had. Now i probably dont need to go into detail why the ministry of the environment is a cesspool of bitches and whores who only have journalism degrees. But look at her boys, we all know what her politics are.

 

[bippu_as_fuck_ls400]

They uploaded an edited version today:

The original was also returned to visible status:

Archive of the short version:

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

I know why this fucking ad was approved, in 2016 SAS switched its marketing director from a experienced woman by the name of "Trine kromann" to "Mariam Skovfoged". To the non Danes here this name rings no bell, however she was the head of public relations of the ministry of the environment during the prime minister ship of one the worst prime ministers we have ever had. Now i probably dont need to go into detail why the ministry of the environment is a cesspool of bitches and whores who only have journalism degrees. But look at her boys, we all know what her politics are.
View attachment 1141789

(((Mariam))) Skovfoged?

 

[KiwiJoe]

In European countries is being unpatriotic common in the average citizen? A few of my European friends like to poke jabs at stuff like the Pledge of Alliegance or American-flag themed clothes and merch but I can't tell since it could be TDS.
I really wonder since this shit from an American POV looks so cuckolded. Although that has been said a lot already.

Can any EuroKiwis answer?

 

[Bioniclelover]

What is it with Euros trying to assert their superiority by becoming a cargo cult version of the US? You guys can be ethnostates if you want. Actively pillaging from other cultures and constantly evolving is our thing. It's even more bewildering given how you guys look down on the US in every other respect.

In European countries is being unpatriotic common in the average citizen? A few of my European friends like to poke jabs at stuff like the Pledge of Alliegance or American-flag themed clothes and merch but I can't tell since it could be TDS.
I really wonder since this shit from an American POV looks so cuckolded. Although that has been said a lot already.

Can any EuroKiwis answer?

Europe is not one country, you have to consider every nation separately.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Europe is not one country, you have to consider every nation separately.

That's not what Germany says.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Europe is not one country, you have to consider every nation separately.

Your lack of fidelity to the European project has been noted. Your social credit is being adjusted down.

 

[LegoTugboat]

Thing is, airlines have to run truly great ads, to make you want to use them, to visit their countries.

Take the Qantas ad above. One of the most expensive ads ever made in Australia, led to quite a lot of variants, but it was massively successful. It shows off all these beautiful locations, backed up with the iconic "I Still Call Australia Home", sung by two children's choirs.

It gives this feeling of how big the world is, how you can get there on the Flying Kangaroo, but that no matter where you go, there's still one place for you.

And even though that ad's over 20 years old, people will get teary eyed over it, even if they're not Australians.

That Scandidavian ad doesn't do that. It just tells you that the country's a shithole that has stolen everything from others, and that Vikings had really bad teeth and were pussies.

 

[AnotherPleb]

Even the new one has comments hidden.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

They uploaded an edited version today:

The original was also returned to visible status:

Archive of the short version:
View attachment 1141844

I think it'll be difficult to do a parody of these ads.

 

[AssRock]

In European countries is being unpatriotic common in the average citizen? A few of my European friends like to poke jabs at stuff like the Pledge of Alliegance or American-flag themed clothes and merch but I can't tell since it could be TDS.
I really wonder since this shit from an American POV looks so cuckolded. Although that has been said a lot already.

Can any EuroKiwis answer?

I've been living in Sweden off and on for the last two years and this commercial feels a lot like it was written entirely about Swedes and a lack of pride in themselves and their country, lest they become labelled as nationalistic. To say that nothing is Scandinavian is to completely disregard a lot of the contributions made to the rest of the world, i.e. the three point seat belt, the ball bearing, the modern zipper, etc. You could even argue that this commercial also represents more Sami erasure, especially after they just won a ruling enabling more self governance.

As a North American, I don't really get it; what is wrong with taking some pride in yourself and your country?

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

so, what dose this has to do with planes and airlines?

 

[Cryogonal]

Ah yes, the old "We have no culture because we're known for the things people before us had and also because other people made this thing first" argument, a classic. If you think culture is defined by what people made and not by how people live, chances are you've got no idea what you're saying.

 

[Krimjob]

They are now unironically blaming the Russians for this, accusing Russian troll factories of sharing this. They just can't grasp that Swedes hate this kind of shit.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I've been living in Sweden off and on for the last two years and this commercial feels a lot like it was written entirely about Swedes and a lack of pride in themselves and their country, lest they become labelled as nationalistic. To say that nothing is Scandinavian is to completely disregard a lot of the contributions made to the rest of the world, i.e. the three point seat belt, the ball bearing, the modern zipper, etc. You could even argue that this commercial also represents more Sami erasure, especially after they just won a ruling enabling more self governance.

As a North American, I don't really get it; what is wrong with taking some pride in yourself and your country?

If you take pride in your country you might start asking wrong questions like "why are we nearly completely reliant on outside exports?" or "why outside organizations and corporations have a massive sway in our politics?".

 

[snailslime]

why would anyone want to be a scandanerd tho

 

[Jaimas]

I want to extract the brain of the the marketing exec that greenlit this and do a histological examination.

They cannot, possibly, be wired correctly.

 

[Dr. Troon Lagoon]

In European countries is being unpatriotic common in the average citizen? A few of my European friends like to poke jabs at stuff like the Pledge of Alliegance or American-flag themed clothes and merch but I can't tell since it could be TDS.
I really wonder since this shit from an American POV looks so cuckolded. Although that has been said a lot already.

Can any EuroKiwis answer?

Depends on the Euro nation in question.

For the Germans, it's obviously tied to historical precedent: unless it's football people tend to get nervous if Germans start waving their flag in anything resembling pride. So having flag waving outside of your house is a no-no there and Germans like to flagellate themselves for the sins of WWII lest they be denounced as AFD sympathisers.

For the Dutch, most of them love their country, grow up in it with the intention of staying there until they grow old and die. But most of them have a very sober, down-to-earth mentality, so overly patriotic is regarded as "over the top and too much". Although I've met quite a few who will patriotically sperg about being from the region they hail from. Randstad vs periphery comes to mind too.

Also again, the notion of being patriotic has been stained by WWII with the Germans going too far in that sense.

But yes, the Danish tend to make fun of Sweden for being overly correct regularly. Quite entertaining really.

 

[Overly Serious]

In European countries is being unpatriotic common in the average citizen? A few of my European friends like to poke jabs at stuff like the Pledge of Alliegance or American-flag themed clothes and merch but I can't tell since it could be TDS.
I really wonder since this shit from an American POV looks so cuckolded. Although that has been said a lot already.

Can any EuroKiwis answer?

There are strong anti-nationalist feelings amongst parts of the population in the UK. To categorise that demographic in the most general terms possible, I'd say "Middle Class" as the affluence level and with a bias within that group towards female (but not overwhelming). Working class tends not to have that anti-nationalist feeling in general but there's a Left Wing segment (Antifa types and other communists) who do. That said, Antifa types often merely have the stylings of working class rather than actually being so. Upper classes are less anti-nationalist than the Middle Classes but there are some strong anti-nationalist figures in there, especially on the media side of things. After all, uncontrolled immigration drives down wages and pushes up house prices.

Outside of the UK, you can find similar anti-nationalist feeling through Sweden's middle and upper classes. I think Germany is similar to the UK. Other nations, a case by case basis I think. France I don't understand because they're French.

It's worth understanding that the EU governments are typically a lot more pro-active and clever about popping nationalist movements before they start. There aren't the same Free Speech protections and the media is usually fully onside. For example, most of Sweden's mainstream media gets very generous subsidies from the State so loves to tow the government line. UK and German governments are incredibly good at identifying and silencing voices that contradict the desired narrative. I mean, the last Labour government sacrificed over a thousand young girls to sexual predators rather than allow public awareness of Pakistani rape gangs.

A really good commentator on Swedish issues is Angry Foreigner.

And longer good one. Pretty long but see if you make it to the bit where Swedish school teachers are identifying girls who date 'nationalists' and telling them to dump their "racist" boyfriends.