In one video, a woman nervously asks her boyfriend if he wants to come to her niece’s christening.
asserted
he → ask → christening
“I’d love to,” the boyfriend says, awkwardly pottering about their bedroom, his body language evasive.
asserted
language → love → bedroom
“But I’ve gotta go to the Embassy of... Finland in Canberra today.”
asserted
I → get → Canberra
“Well, it’s closed,” the woman replies.
asserted
woman → ’ → ?
“It’s the 10th of November.”
asserted
It → ’ → November
In a different skit, a moustached Gen Z repeatedly tries to open a locked door.
asserted
Z → try → door
The video is captioned: “POV: you’re trying to enter the Embassy of Finland in Canberra, but it’s 10th of November.
asserted
it → caption → November
Hate it when this happens.”
asserted
this → hate → it
Another Instagram reel shows a high-angled view of recent French riots.
asserted
reel → show → riots
“How Paris is handling the news that the Finnish Embassy in Canberra is closed on November 10th.
asserted
Embassy → handle → 10th
Canberra’s quiet, leafy streets – home to Australia’s primary diplomatic precincts – rarely grab international attention.
asserted
streets → grab → attention
When they do, it’s for high-stakes lease standoffs with Russian squatters. Or allegations of worker exploitation.
asserted
it → do → 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.
asserted
embassy → make → mythology
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.
asserted
they → start → relationship
With classic Finnish deadpan delivery, and more than a lick of dry humour, Haapea asked: “Are you single?
asserted
you → ask → humour
We are here to help.
asserted
We → help → ?
You have tried Tinder.
asserted
You → try → Tinder
You have tried Bumble.
asserted
You → try → Bumble
But have you tried... Helsinki?”
asserted
you → try → ?
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.
asserted
video → film → dates
The plan was to promote Finnish cuisine, which – apart from fresh fish and cinnamon buns – is not exactly world-renowned.
asserted
which → promote → fish
The prospect of an all-expenses-paid trip, as well as people’s audition videos – sometimes awkward, sometimes sleek – warmed-up social media algorithms.
asserted
videos → pay → 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.
asserted
it → post → Tuesday
Or, as they say in Finland, no niin.
asserted
they → say → Finland
Global youth travel company Contiki perhaps put it best when it commented on the post: “Day’s ruined now, cheers.”
asserted
Day → put → post
Or the local National Rugby League team, the Canberra Raiders, when they simply wrote: “Bugger.”
asserted
they → write → Bugger
Within hours, young people from all around the world were spoofing the closure notice.
asserted
people → spoof → notice
One showed footage of a snowstorm with the caption: “Going to Finland personally because the embassy in Canberra was closed today.”
asserted
embassy → show → Canberra
Ambassador 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.
asserted
they → tell → Sydney
It is the same for Finns living in New Zealand or elsewhere in the Pacific.
asserted
It → live → Pacific
All have to jump on a plane to Canberra.
asserted
All → have → Canberra
“We are the only one in this region who can process passport applications.
asserted
who → process → applications
People come from afar,” Haapea said.
asserted
Haapea → come → ?
He added that he and the team had been swept away by the social media attention.
asserted
he → add → attention
Finland’s Australian embassy is now the most-followed Finnish embassy in the world.
asserted
embassy → follow → world
“It was in no way premeditated to get attention,” Haapea said.
asserted
Haapea → premeditate → attention
“Once a year we just usually go on a planning day to look at the next year.
asserted
we → go → year
We were just as surprised as anyone else when it became viral.”
asserted
it → become → anyone
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.
asserted
number → know → attention
That’s why they had to extend the deadline.
asserted
they → ’ → deadline
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
