In one video, a woman nervously asks her boyfriend if he wants to come to her niece’s christening.
“I’d love to,” the boyfriend says, awkwardly pottering about their bedroom, his body language evasive. “But I’ve gotta go to the embassy of… Finland in Canberra today.”
“Well, it’s closed,” the woman replies. “It’s the 10th of November.”
In a different skit, a moustached Gen Z repeatedly tries to open a locked door. The video is captioned: “POV: you’re trying to enter the Embassy of Finland in Canberra, but it’s 10th of November. Hate it when this happens.”
Another Instagram reel shows a high-angled view of recent French riots. The caption? “How Paris is handling the news that the Finnish Embassy in Canberra is closed on November 10th.”
Canberra’s quiet, leafy streets – home to Australia’s primary diplomatic precincts – rarely grab international attention. When they do, it’s for high-stakes lease stand-offs with Russian squatters. Or allegations of worker exploitation.
But this week, Finland’s embassy in Yarralumla – a sleek building made of glass, concrete and wood named after a heroic smith from Finnish mythology – became an international meme.
It was all started last week, when the embassy posted a tongue-in-cheek video of Finland’s ambassador to Australia, Arto Haapea, asking followers if they were in a relationship.
With classic Finnish deadpan delivery, and more than a lick of dry humour, Haapea asked: “Are you single? Good. We are here to help. You have tried Tinder. You have tried Bumble. But have you tried… Helsinki?”
The video was filmed to promote a campaign, run by Finland’s chief tourism organisation, to fly singles from all around the world to Northern Europe for a series of dinner dates. The plan was to promote Finnish cuisine, which – apart from fresh fish and cinnamon buns – is not exactly world-renowned.
The prospect of an all-expenses-paid trip, as well as people’s audition videos – sometimes awkward, sometimes sleek – warmed-up social media algorithms.
Then, a few days later, the main course: the embassy posted a message to Instagram informing followers it would be temporarily closed on Tuesday, November 10, but reopen the very next day. The video was complete with upbeat piano music and a time-lapse of the Northern Lights.
Voilà. Or, as they say in Finland, no niin.
Global youth travel company Contiki perhaps put it best when it commented on the post: “Day’s ruined now, cheers.”
Or the local National Rugby League team, the Canberra Raiders, when they simply wrote: “Bugger.”
Within hours, young people from all around the world were spoofing the closure notice. One showed footage of a snowstorm with the caption: “Going to Finland personally because the embassy in Canberra was closed today.”
Haapea told this masthead he didn’t mind people making fun of the temporary closure notice, but pointed out that there were about 10,000 holders of Finnish passports in Australia and they all had to travel to Canberra to get new ones – even those living in Sydney and Melbourne. It is the same for Finns living in New Zealand or elsewhere in the Pacific. All have to jump on a plane to Canberra.
“We are the only one in this region who can process passport applications. People come from afar,” Haapea said.
He added that he and the team had been swept away by the social media attention. Finland’s Australian embassy is now the most-followed Finnish embassy in the world.
“It was in no way premeditated to get attention,” Haapea said. “Once a year we just usually go on a planning day to look at the next year. So it was a regular announcement. We were just as surprised as anyone else when it became viral.”
While it is not yet known how many Australians applied for the Finnish dinner date campaign, the ambassador said there were more than 200,000 applications worldwide and the number of applications from Australia would have been significant given the social media attention.
“They [the tourism board] were overwhelmed. That’s why they had to extend the deadline.”
It’s not the first time the Canberra embassy has leant into tongue-in-cheek publicity. Last year, Haapea drove from Canberra to Perth in a blue 2004 Toyota Camry dubbed the “Happiest Car in the World” – a nod to Finland’s top ranking in the world’s happiness index – to take part in the Shitbox Rally, a long-distance charity motoring event where teams drive cars worth less than $1500.
Next year, the embassy plans to roll out local sauna diplomacy sessions, which are popular in Washington, DC. The idea is to have frank conversations with politicians and journalists in a proper Finnish sauna where uniforms and egos are stripped away. Think real coals, steam and birch leaves.
The memes came full circle in the early hours of Thursday morning (AEDT) when Finnish President Alexander Stubb bailed up his Australian counterpart on the sidelines of the COP31 summit in Turkey. The pair sat, smiling, in near-matching navy suits and spectacles.
“I have confirmed to the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, that the Finnish Embassy in Canberra is open,” Stubb wrote.
“Thank God it is over,” one of the more than 200 commenters wrote.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.
More:
Broede Carmodyis the federal AM desk editor. He was previously a health reporter and state political reporter for The Age.Connect viaXoremail.
