Clicky

Airline’s advert tells Scandinavians they have no culture, blames “online attack” after getting downvoted

Viewers slammed the advert’s assertion that “absolutely nothing” is truly Scandinavian.

Tired of censorship and surveillance?

Defend free speech and individual liberty online. Push back against Big Tech and media gatekeepers. Subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

Scandinavian airline SAS is getting ratioed on YouTube after asserting that nothing is truly Scandinavian in its latest campaign.

The video opens with the narrator asking “what is truly Scandinavian?” and then answering her own question with “absolutely nothing.”

The rest of the video then goes on to claim that the iconic Scandinavian windmills, Swedish meatballs, and many other things typically associated with Scandinavian culture are “copied” from other countries.

Click here to display content from www.youtube-nocookie.com

Many viewers have slammed the advert and see it as an attack on the company’s Scandinavian customers.

Click here to display content from Twitter.
Learn more in Twitter’s privacy policy.

https://twitter.com/izabellanilsso1/status/1227576542403932160

Click here to display content from Twitter.
Learn more in Twitter’s privacy policy.

SAS disabled comments on the YouTube video but the overwhelming pushback against the advert can be seen in its dislike/like ratio with the video accruing 43,000 dislikes and just 1,800 likes within a day of being uploaded.

The “SAS - What is truly Scandinavian?” YouTube video has a dislike/like ratio of around 24/1 (YouTube - SAS - Scandinavian Airlines)
The “SAS – What is truly Scandinavian?” YouTube video has a dislike/like ratio of around 24/1 (YouTube – SAS – Scandinavian Airlines)

As criticism of the advert started to go mainstream, SAS temporarily hid the YouTube video, claimed that “the campaign has been hijacked,” and blamed the backlash on an “online attack.”

https://twitter.com/genpoden/status/1227609806988554241

SAS then made the original YouTube video public again and released a “shorter and clearer version” of the video while continuing to insist that criticism of the video was an “attack.”

Click here to display content from www.youtube-nocookie.com

Like with the original video, this shorter version has its comments disabled and is getting ratioed on YouTube with the video currently having over 6,600 dislikes and just 289 likes.

The “SAS - What is truly Scandinavian? (45s)” YouTube video has a dislike/like ratio of around 23/1 (YouTube - SAS - Scandinavian Airlines)
The “SAS – What is truly Scandinavian? (45s)” YouTube video has a dislike/like ratio of around 23/1 (YouTube – SAS – Scandinavian Airlines)

The response to this SAS advert is similar to the response to last year’s disastrous Gillette “The Best Men Can Be” advert.

Click here to display content from www.youtube-nocookie.com

This Gillette advert was blasted for attacking men, has accrued 1.5 million dislikes, and is currently the 29th most disliked video on YouTube ever.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

Tired of censorship and surveillance?

Defend free speech and individual liberty online. Push back against Big Tech and media gatekeepers. Subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

Read more

Share