VisitDenmark didn’t put enough thought into the cross-cultural interpretation of the video. Something which may be considered positive in Denmark might not go down so well outside Scandinavia.I first heard about the story from a Swedish paper, and that was before it was exposed as a hoax. The general reaction in Sweden seemed to be one of shock at the irresponsibility of Karen. What does that say about how it would have gone over in more conservative but also desirable target nations like the USA, India or China?

The video will most likely serve as a lesson for how not to run a nation-level viral campaign, and it would probably dissuade other countries from doing this sort of thing at all, unless they feel they have a campaign that has palatability guarantees. It’s a pity for Denmark, and one can already see that many ordinary Danes are bewildered that the campaign launched in the first place, and that it had far from the desired effect for Denmark’s image.

The original video posters are deleting comments like crazy, trying to do damage control.
Amateurs. So much for “freedom of speech in Denmark”. Around 600 post since the TV news spot aired.

I am adopted and take offense to this fake video. In response to this I will not spend any holiday money in Denmark. Denmark is one of the most boring and expensive destinations in the world. The weather is usually shit too, avoid!

@rhrbjorn No – sorry, but we did not have anything to do with this campaign!