LETTER FROM STOCKHOLM
For Sweden, as for Switzerland, this is a problem. Not the type to provoke a diplomatic crisis, certainly. But enough to make your teeth cringe. Especially when the language of American President Joe Biden begins to twist, during a press conference, on the sidelines of a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and he mentions Switzerland, instead of Sweden. In their time, his predecessors Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush made the same blunder.
To put an end to the confusion, Sweden took matters into its own hands, with the help of a video, posted online on October 24, calling out the Swiss. “We are contacting you regarding our mutual problemexplains actress Emma Peters, long blonde hair and white blazer, in front of two yellow and blue flags. It is time we differentiated between our two nations, as clear as day, by deciding who speaks about what. »
Because American presidents are not the only ones to get confused. In 2018, to welcome the IPO of the Stockholm company Spotify, Wall Street raised the white and red flag of… Switzerland! The following year, the Grenoble ice rink played the Swedish anthem, before a Champions League hockey match between Brûleurs de loups – the local club – and SC Bern. For the record, the Swiss won, before being eliminated in the next round, by the Swedes of Lulea.
For more than one in ten Britons, ABBA and Ikea are Swiss
At the origin of the campaign, Visit Sweden, the Swedish tourist office, carried out the investigation: “Last year, 120,000 Internet users searched on Google to find out if Sweden and Switzerland were the same country”, reveals Susanne Andersson, CEO of the organization. Furthermore, according to two surveys carried out in the United Kingdom and the United States, 43% of British and 50% of Americans admit to not being able to distinguish the two countries. Worse still: more than one in ten Britons think that ABBA and Ikea are Swiss. As for Americans, 10% admit to having almost booked a plane for the wrong destination.
It is true that the two countries are similar: located in Europe, among the richest in the world, with a long history of neutrality (recently broken by Sweden which wishes to join NATO). Boasting breathtaking landscapes, both are also accustomed to being among the top of international rankings, whether in terms of innovation or quality of life.
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