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It seems Finland is the first country to embrace emojis that represent the country. And they include, erm, naked sauna goers.
The country’s official tourism website This is FINLAND has released the first three of their 30-emoji sticker set created for their festive advent calendar. And they include – a naked couple enjoying a sauna, a Nokia mobile phone and a heavy-metal lover also known as ‘the Headbanger’.
“The Sauna. Doesn’t need introducing. Sauna is as Finnish as it gets. Naked,” says Bruno Leo Ribeiro who designed the emojis.
And here’s what Headbanger represents according to Leo Ribeiro: “It is dark in Finland and so is the music. There’s a small headbanger living inside of each Finn.”
The Finland government hopes people will be able to see the tongue-in-cheek side of things with their emojis that can be downloaded from their tourism website.
“We have been anything but serious when creating these emojis,” said Petra Theman, director for public diplomacy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
“Hopefully they will open up not only our weirdness but also our strengths of which unarming honesty is one example.”
The third emoji is a Nokia 3310 which represents ‘the Unbreakable’. Nokia, of course, was once the global handset market leader before being replaced by the likes of Samsung and Apple.
“The legendary Nokia 3310 is one of the highest selling mobile phones of all times,” says Leo Ribeiro.
“The phone was designed in Finland and it is known for its toughness.”
Now all we need is an official Angry Bird emoji in that set and life will be complete.
