Identify: Oslo.
Age: About 1,000 years outdated.
Look: Not all that.
What do you imply, “not all that”? I don’t know – it’s OK, I suppose.
Isn’t it nestled in a dramatic Norwegian panorama that includes steep forested hills and a fjord? Yeah. It’s nice when you like that type of factor.
And hasn’t it been named probably the greatest cities to go to on the planet? One of many 10 finest, again in 2018.
Isn’t it additionally famously one among Europe’s most livin a position cities? Most likely.
And isn’t there an enormous Edvard Munch museum there? Positive.
You’re probably not promoting it, to be trustworthy. Am I not? I assumed I used to be.
No, you’re truly placing me off going. I used to be solely attempting to invoke the dry understatement of Oslo’s newest tourism advert.
Dry understatement? In a tourism advert? I do know, bizarre. However that’s what they’ve gone for.
What’s the advert like? It includes a thirtysomething Oslo resident named Halfdan. “I wouldn’t come right here, to be trustworthy,” he says. “I imply, is it even a metropolis?”
It’s the capital of Norway, isn’t it? Sure, however for Halfdan, Oslo is simply too village-like: “You stroll across the nook, and it’s like: ‘Oh, there’s the prime minister.’ Then you definately stroll across the subsequent nook and it’s like: ‘Oh, there’s the king.’”
I can see how that might finally get annoying. Additionally, in Oslo, there are not any correct crowds on the museums and galleries, and also you don’t should queue for eating places. “Every little thing is simply so obtainable,” says Halfdan disdainfully. “I feel a metropolis ought to really feel just a little onerous to get.”
I’m starting to detect the dry understatement. Lastly.
So actually, he’s subtly declaring Oslo’s many sights by mischaracterising them as drawbacks. It’s perhaps not as delicate as you suppose, however sure.
And is that basically working? It appears to be: the advert has racked up 2m views on X/Twitter in simply two days.
However are vacationers truly flocking to Oslo due to it? It’s solely been two days – give them an opportunity.
It nonetheless appears odd to pitch your self as a vacationer vacation spot by saying: nobody comes right here. Perhaps not. Fashionable vacationer cities comparable to Venice, Barcelona and Tokyo are affected by over-tourism, with hordes of tourists despoiling the very factor they’ve come to see.
Do say: “Come to Oslo. Or don’t. No matter.”
Don’t say: “However when you do come, carry some huge cash, as a result of it’s tremendous costly.”
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