Got Milquetoast?

Much to its horror, the Norwegian dairy conglomerate Tine just discovered that its brand new commercial features a decorated World War Two veteran who is — gasp! — opposed to immigration. The company wasn’t having any of that, so they pulled the commercial from the air faster than you can say “diversity”.

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated an article with the latest. He says:

This article shows the level of hysteria associated with any opposition to Multiculturalism in Norway, and the lengths that some are willing to go to in order to distance themselves from critics of this ideology.

Jan Høeg is a decorated veteran of the Norwegian resistance who fought the German occupying forces in WW2. His father was an army officer who died fighting the Soviets during the Winter War in Finland.

FMI (Folkebevegelsen mot innvandring, “People’s Movement Against Immigration”) was founded by a group of Norwegian Merchant sailors who took part in the North Atlantic convoys in WW2. They started the organization because they were concerned with official Norway’s enthusiasm for Multiculturalism. Apparently Tine doesn’t want to be associated with such individuals.

Expect to see Mullah Krekar and Mohammed Mohyeldeen in the next Tine TV commercial.

The translated article from Dagbladet:

Tine pulls commercial featuring well known immigration opponent

Swift reaction from dairy giant

Working feverishly

Only minutes after Dagbladet could reveal that the well known immigrant opponent, Jan Høeg (89), was featured in Tines new commercial for kulturmelk [soured milk], Øystein Syrstad, the spokesperson for Tine, contacted Dagbladet with the following news:

The dairy giant are going to pull the commercial featuring Høeg. Jan Høeg is spokesperson and deputy chairman of the People’s Movement Against Immigration (FMI).

Apologizes profusely

“Tine is obviously very sorry that an actor who is affiliated with an organization espousing views that are so inconsistent with our own values was used in one of our commercials. Tine and the advertising agency Try have done a poor job in vetting the backgrounds of the actors,” Syrstad tells Dagbladet.

The commercial that features Høeg ends with the strophe “Those are the type of boys that old Norway wants.”

It now looks like the commercial that has been shown several times on prime time TV will be axed. After working feverishly on a press release, Syrstad informed Dagbladet at 7pm that Tine will now permanently pull the TV commercial.

“The commercial will no longer be shown on TV in its current version,” he says.

Syrstad says that Tine does not want to be associated with the views that the People’s Movement Against Immigration espouses.

“Tine was not familiar with the background of this person when the commercial was made,” says Syrstad.

Swimmer

Høeg himself doesn’t think there is anything exceptional about his role in the commercial, considering that he is a competent swimmer.

He was tight-lipped when Dagbladet called earlier this evening but reacted strongly when he was asked if he had made the filmmakers aware of his connection with the FMI.

“Now why on earth would I do that? Now you’re just asking plain stupid questions, and I think I’ll just end this conversation,” Jan Høeg said before he did just that.

Six people well-advanced in years participated in the commercial.

The yanked commercial may be seen on YouTube.