Help a Dane: Funny campaign for a serious issue

At first confusing, in the end funny, viral public service social media ad from Denmark makes people think about skin cancer.

PUBLIC SERVICE ADS & CREATIVE ADVERTISING

Help a Dane: Funny campaign for a serious issue

Many netizens have probably scratched their heads in bewilderment when they encountered a recent Danish ad about Thailand on Facebook.

The social media campaign  is called "Help a Dane" and a special website has been set up for the campaign called "www.helpadane.com".

Now, it doesn't help that subtle irony or humour in foreign languages and foreign cultures is usually very difficult to understand (cross-cultural humour).

Many Thais, however, do seem to have found the video creative and funny.

The ad begins with a serious-looking Danish man in a suit sitting behind a desk making a rather formal and staid announcement.

He speaks a typical but very imperfect foreigner version of spoken Thai (broken Thai), translated into English video captions at the bottom of the screen:

"We Danes love your country. But there is a problem. The strong sun is harmful to our delicate skin, and everyday a Dane dies from skin cancer," the announcer declares.

Two plates with food accompany this statement of the problem, one plate with a Thai flag and Thai springrolls and the other plate with a Danish flag and a .....? well, something that is at first unidentifiable.

Is it a cake? a cookie? a turd? a Danish springroll?

Thai springroll and apparently burnt Thai springroll symbolic of fair-skinned people with skin cancer from sunburn (Source: YouTube screen capture).

No, it appears to be a burnt version of the Thai springroll to the left, apparently symbolic of the sunburnt Dane in Thailand with skin cancer.

"We know you have a lot on your plate, but we respectfully ask for your support. Help a Dane in the sun," the ad pleads with the Thai public.

"Tens of thousands of us travel from the cold, dark north to your fantastic towns and beaches."

Announcer applies sun lotion to sunburnt Dane.

"When we see a ray of sun, we throw caution to the wind and fry hour after hour," the ad explains as the camera pans over a group shot of sunburnt Danes of all ages with serious expressions on their faces. 

"Teach us to be more like you. Remind us that every minute counts in the Thai sun - whether we're at the beach, at the street kitchen or in the tuk-tuk, remind us of shade,"

The announcer then explains what the ad slogan "Help a Dane" means: "Remind us of shade, sun hat and sunscreen. Volunteer now and help a Dane."

Announcer holding beach umbrella over a fair-skinned Dane.

The announcer then demonstrates and helps a Dane put suntan lotion on, reminding them to use a beach umbrella and a hat and reminding them not to stay out too long under the sun without a shirt because Danes, like other Nordic or northern European people have very fair, pale or "white" skin that can easily sunburn and become very red and painful with dangers of skin cancer looming in the future.

A traditional Thai wai puts a polite ending and final touch to the ad.

The announcer wais the audience after making his speech about skin cancer.

Poking around the "Help a Dane" website a little quickly reveals that the campaign is formally called "The Danish Safety Campaign" and is the brainchild of "The Danish Cancer Society & TryFonden".

This new viral ad campaign might be best characterized as a public service ad with a gently humorous and ambiguous irony aimed at raising awareness and getting the public to engage with a serious subject that people have a tendency to avoid and not want to think about, namely skin cancer.

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2017/02/08/help-dane-tv-personality-asks-thai-help-sunscreen-viral-campaign-video

https://www.facebook.com/pg/helpadane/about/
www.solkampagnen.dk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service

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