“Do It For Denmark”
Apparently the Danes are trying to get their citizens to, well, do it:
Denmark has a sex problem. (Re-evaluating that happiness ranking already?)
Well, it’s not exactly a sex problem, per se. It’s more like a baby problem. According to government statistics, Denmark posted a birth rate of 10 per 1,000 residents in 2013 — its lowest in decades. The nation’s birthrate was 9.9 in 1983.
Denmark’s perennially low birth rate places it with Germany (8.33), Japan (8.39) and Singapore (7.72). And the downward trend has left people worried in Denmark. Most couples say they want two or three kids, according to the Copenhagen Post, but one in five couples wind up childless.
On Wednesday, a bold — and hilarious — campaign emerged in Denmark to reverse the trend. For the salvation of the country, a travel company-organized movement called “Do it for Denmark!” wants Danes to act and act now — without precautions. “Denmark is facing a crisis,” the company, Spies Rejser, says. ”We are concerned. The fewer Danes means fewer people to support the aging population — but sadly, also fewer Spies travelers.”
Here’s the video (mildly NSFW):
In reality, of course, this is a fairly clever ad campaign for a travel agency rather than a government program (and one that probably wouldn’t be considered acceptable for American television thanks to the incredibly prudish broadcast rules we have here) but, come on Danes, it’s your patriotic duty!
Reminds me of a song from Grease 2.
In 1969 my parents drove us across the border from Germany to Denmark. At the border there were letters three stories high:
SEX
I asked “what does that mean in Danish?”
… uncomfortable silence.
That’s a fun ad.
It seems to me that any country with an increasing real GDP and low Gini coefficient, as Denmark has, is in pretty good shape.
I wonder if I can get the ovulation discount?
Our broadcast rules may be prudish, but damn it, they’ve forced us to be subtler in our advertising. I felt like this ad was just screaming its point across.
The Eiffel Tower was a nice touch.
@Dave Schuler: Unfortunately, the usual solution to this problem in affluent countries — namely, immigration — is extremely distasteful to Danes. They are almost as xenophobic as the Japanese(*), and their language is both difficult and not spoken anywhere that immigrants might come from.
(*) With some justification — their population is small enough that ethnic Danes could quickly become a minority. Part of what made the US such an effective melting pot is that the people in charge didn’t care about dilution (or displacement, or outright eradication) of the native ethnic population.
It seems to me a childless man in a happy relationship that the happiness ranking probably comes from the low birth rate. Parents on average lose quality of life from having children due to cost, increased illness, work gaps, etc.
@Dave D: maybe, but placing that kind of value on having kids is pretty lame. people who think like that shouldn’t breed, they make terrible parents.
Graph at the beginning of video didn’t start at zero. Therefore useless.
@bill: And that is why I used my health insurance to be sterilized. However, there will never be a threshold to be able to breed, but I can tell you there is a threshold to be fixed. And you still haven’t refuted the fact the having kids lowers your standard of living and happiness overall. It may be lame to you but it ruins a lot of people’s lives.
It’s often puzzled me that European countries don’t try to encourage immigration from the US. We’ve got a surplus of young, reasonably educated, people, most of them white, most of them Christian,virtually all willing to be sexually active, who would presumably blend into the Conitinental population with minimal difficulty. Granted, Americans are poor at learning languages, but presumably their children would learn their new homeland’s speech without problems.
I concede in advance that it’s more than a bit racist to imply that white-skinned Christian Europeans might prefer white-skinned Christian American immigrants to dark-skinned Moslem immigrants. Please imagine I’m waving my arms frantically and trying to explain that I personally couldn’t imagine such immigration being run in a way that excluded blacks or Hispanics or people with non-Christian backgrounds. Still….
Are there reasons why Europeans might NOT accept hordes of American immigrants?
Number one reason: They’re Americans.
@mike shupp:
Nope, no reasons to turn us away.
I’m sure that once they look at our House of Representatives and see people like Steve King, Michelle Bachmann, Ted Yoho, and Louie Gohmert, they’ll conclude: “hey, let’s increase our quotas for American immigration.”
Almost 70 years of US military presence in Europe hasn’t made that happen yet. You can spot an American a mile away in Europe.
My receptionist was able to command a higher wage here in the armpit of the nation because of the British accent. Does a US accent come off as posh in Britain as a British accent does in the US? If it doesn’t maybe that explains some of the lack of emigration from here to at least Britain.
The Brits let Chrissy Hynde in. At least they have good taste.
BTW, for evidence that some Danes do their part …
http://hrymel.hubpages.com/hub/Rita-the-Danish-TV-Series
Available on NetFlix
(It might be the source of US “bad teacher” movies.)
Granted the ad is a gem, but it does mask some awkward discussions: Why doesn’t why Denmark simply increase the rates of immigration (although one also wonders the tolerance and appetite for such ventures given Denmark’s reputation with such matters) as well as promoting the joys of parenthood and not just sex itself. Assuming one can afford it too …..
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2014/03/denmark-video-asks-couples-sex/
@Dave D: i have kids and i’m happy i do. i may have worked harder to provide them a decent living than i would have if i was childless. there’s no need to refute your nonsensical stance on trying to put a monetary value on raising a family- that’s too self absorbed. i got fixed after i did my part to repopulate earth, i had kids so you don’t have to- you’re welcome!
i also know a bunch of people my age who chose to pursue financial gain vs. having kids- and 9 out of 10 wish they had kids. too late for most of them unless they adopt.