What is truly Scandinavian?

Skanky Vamp

Skanky Vamp

Sniffin' the Slayer
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Black Thorn
Absolutely nothing. Everything is copied. According to an SAS advert, at least.

from the beeb

The iconic Swedish meatball, Danish pastry, and Scandinavian parental leave are then attributed to Turkey, Austria and Switzerland. SAS said they believe they were the target of a co-ordinated online attack. The advert pointed out that liquorice came from China, windmills were invented in Iran, and that the progressive politics the Nordics are known for originated in Greece and the US.

"We take everything we like on our trips abroad, adjust it a little bit, and it's a unique Scandinavian thing," the advert, which was taken down on Wednesday, claimed. Danish & Co Noa agency produced the campaign, which SAS defended as highlighting how travel "inspires individuals and societies."

Politicians with Danish and Swedish anti-immigration populist parties criticised the message. "What nonsense and self-hatred. Always tried to fly with SAS, but never again. That's a promise," secretary of the populist Sweden Democrats Richard Jomshof wrote on Facebook,

"I have always flown with SAS a lot but I would have bad taste in my mouth if I did it again because they spit on us like that," the populist Danish People's Party foreign affairs spokesperson Soeren Espersen, told Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

SAS believe their campaign was hijacked by online groups, the company said on its website. "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."

Right-wing populist parties that oppose multiculturalism and immigration have been increasing in popularity in the region.
 
I worked for SAS for several years. I still kinda do, but the company I am employed at and sometimes work for isn't owned by them anymore.

What is said in the advert is obviously true. Any idiot would realize that. There is nothing new under the midnight sun.

But I don't think there has been any "coordinated attack." Criticising Scandinavian nationalism will always create a spontaneous backlash.

They should have added, Scandinavians did not create chlamydia. We got it from some dirty foreigners.
 
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I'd say it's a pretty good ad for how culture works. *shrug*

Can't say it upsets me personally, because "We take everything we like on our trips abroad, adjust it a little bit, and it's a unique Scandinavian thing," which, yeah.

Doubt this will hurt SAS in the long run. Backlash then forgotten.
 
I didn't see a problem with the ad, either, but I thought that may be because as an American we steal other people's ideas all of the time anyway.
 
Ingmar Bergman? Hygge? Compendious Swedish alcohol consumption? Greta Garbo? Finland's Kalevala? Tom of Finland? Jean Sibelius? Saunas? Henrik Ibsen dramas? Norwegian whaling? Hans Christian Andersen? Soren Kierkegaard? Physicist Niels Bohr? Scandinavian noir detective novels? Karl Ove Knausgard (Norway)? ...I think those are the better-known Scandinavian icons from offshore.
 
Icons doesn't really negate what the ad is saying though, it's not like any of these things or people existed in complete and utter isolation. If we're talking iconic people too it's worth noting that a lot of them spent extensive amounts of time abroad and worked abroad, this goes for people like Bergman, Garbo, Ibsen, Strindberg, etc so they would most certainly embody what the ad is saying - that they got cultural influences from elsewhere, but then added their own "Scandinavian" touch to it. (I mean, some of them, arguably, even 'rage quit' their Scandinavian homesteads for decades, immersing themselves in continental culture in a very deliberate manner)

None of the things that are considered stereotypically Scandinavian is devalued or lessened, if you ask me, by the fact that they have come about in cultural exchanges and developments, or that similar things were going on elsewhere, like saunas - even if they weren't called that specifically.

Travel does inspire, SAS is right about that. But I can see why the ad was received poorly, but also why they thought it was a good idea.
 
I think if you watch the whole video, there's less to dislike in the message than if you stop part way through, but the one part that got me was, "We are no better than our Viking ancestors." Who left their mark on a lot of places in the world...
 
The weather in Scandinavia is Scandinavian, and while you lot are on the subject of Vikings I am descended from Vikings on my fathers side of the family.
 
I thought it was brilliant but I like the idea of rhizomatic/parallel development in most things. However, I can also understand the (populist?) backlash. If they'd produced it in the UK for BA they'd be swinging from a lamppost by now. Point out the word Bungalow is Indian in origin and a Daily Mail reader will accuse you of being a traitor. There's even a fuss about the Met Office giving storms "non-English" names.
Altoz said:
Scandinavian noir detective novels.
Click to expand...
Yeah but the detective novel "originates" with E.A.Poe (there are precursors but I don't think they're Scandinavian...usually cited as English and French) and the Noir detective's "quintessentially" American. IMO, Scandinavian Noir epitomizes hybridity. Everyone and their dog has a variety of Noir now.
Buffy Summers said:
"We are no better than our Viking ancestors." Who left their mark on a lot of places in the world...
Click to expand...
I read that claim as gently ironic for precisely that reason.
I think it's playing with the subtle difference between Nationalism and Patriotism.
These two words may have shared a distinct sense in the 19th century, but they appear to have grown apart since. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that only nationalism has grown apart, since the meaning of patriotism has remained largely unchanged. There are still obvious areas of overlap: we define patriotism as “love for or devotion to one’s country” and nationalism in part as “loyalty and devotion to a nation.” But the definition of nationalism also includes “exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.” This exclusionary aspect is not shared by patriotism. The Difference Between 'Patriotism' and 'Nationalism'

Personally, I find it worrying that much of the world seems to be leaning towards the former.
 
The detective fiction market seems to disagree with you about the popularity of Scandinavian noir detective novels. And isn't noir about a particular social and urban habitat and social environment, rather than any historical period? While 1940s/1950s classic film noir mostly concentrated on the United States, there were analogous films in Britain and France during that same period, and there's also the neo-noir cinematic phenomenon since then.
 
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