Danes Issue Invites for One-Night Stands
Our tourist trade, thus promotional campaigns for Croatia, are still for the most part based on the three magic S’s – sea, sun, sand – in which a fourth S (sex) is frequently wrapped up in, at least through the hint of adventure that a bronzed bottom on the beach provides. However, sex as a reason for travelling was used in a far more open and provocative way even by some of the most developed European countries, measured not only by the criteria of its living standard but also by its development of democratic standards and subsequently by gender equality as well.
Hence the Danish Agency VisitDenmark decided upon a highly risky marketing move when they posted a three-minute video on Youtube over a year ago, in which an attractive, good-looking blonde woman with a baby in her arms is kindly requesting the father of the baby get in touch with her. The video was recorded in an amateurish manner and posted on Youtube, feigning a real search for the unknown father, a tourist who had visited Denmark. The attractive Danish woman, actually a hired actress, states in the video that she had met him a year and a half ago and that after an entertaining evening of fun, they ended up in her bed. He was already gone by the time she had awoken, and she does not remember either his name or where he was from. She does not want anything from him, save to let him know he is the father of that child, because, as she coyly states, she has not slept with anyone else since. Hundreds of thousands of Youtube spectators commented on the video and forwarded it so as to help the Danish woman in her search for the father of her child. However, upon discovery that it was in effect a video to promote Denmark, reactions took on a different tone. It was attacked as an open call for men to come visit Denmark for easy entertainment, as an advertisement for prostitution, disgrace for the country, etc. Critics assessed that along with the traditional tourism values – such as hospitality and entertainment – the video advertised Denmark as a dream destination for unprotected sex with strangers, while the Danish newspapers labelled it grotesque and throwing the taxpayers’ money to the wind.
The VisitDenmark Agency reacted promptly, removed the video from Youtube and issued apologies to all whom it had offended, citing they just wanted to tell a story of women who live in a free society and accept responsibility for their actions. Interestingly enough, even Denmark as a society, where such an explanation could have had a base in reality, as there are so many single mothers and nobody is shocked by a woman spending the night with a stranger, is not ready to accept that such a spoof is in fact an attest to women’s emancipation.
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