A film by Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has aroused controversy on social media.
The film, “What is truly Scandinavian”, is part of a marketing campaign by the air company and claims that practically all Scandinavian habits and traditions have foreign influences due to travelling.
Democracy, though different from today, has its roots in ancient Greece. “Swedish” meatballs originated in Turkey, or rather the Ottoman empire, windmills in Persia and the may pole probably in Germany. Almost everything has come from another place at some distant time in the past.
On Thursday the advertising agency in Copenhagen behind the film was subject to a bomb threat and had to be evacuated. SAS is based in Denmark, Norway and Sweden with headquarters in Solna, Sweden.
According to the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN), the film became known abroad after being shared by Swedish anti-migration politicians and disseminated on far-right websites. The film has been seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers but not all of them found it funny.
In a kind of damage control, SAS writes that, “We are proud of our Scandinavian heritage. Many of the things we call Scandinavian today was brought here and refined by curious, open-minded and innovative Scandinavians. Travelers bring home great ideas.”
SAS could of course have added that they were also brought to Scandinavia by immigrants who turned Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.
After the protest storm, SAS delisted the film but it can still be found on internet. To see the film and judge for yourself, click here.
The Brussels Times
