We're A Happy Family
October 4, 2015 8:27 PM   Subscribe

Do It For Mom! (And Denmark). Denmark's birth rate is stlll languishing, so the Danish government has expanded their original program. Parents can send their adult children on vacation to, uh, make grandchildren. Danish Blue, previously on MetaFilter.
posted by mattdidthat (18 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble



 
This isn't actually a government program though right? I thought this is part of a travel agency's ad campaign.
posted by zachlipton at 8:45 PM on October 4, 2015 [5 favorites]


Indeed the campaign is by a travel agency that is part of the Thomas Cook group.
posted by seawallrunner at 9:04 PM on October 4, 2015


The acknowledgment of gay couples was sweet.
posted by idiopath at 9:11 PM on October 4, 2015


Would Denmark let me move there if I promised to have Danish babies? They'd fit in pretty well looks-wise, if that helps.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 2:38 AM on October 5, 2015


They'd fit in pretty well looks-wise, if that helps.

Pretty sure that's a deal-breaker now that the Danish People's Party is the 2nd-largest party in the country.
posted by duffell at 3:42 AM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


This is an ad-campaign for a travel agency, but it seems the municipality of Copenhagen is planning a serious campaign (in Danish): Knald for Danmark
posted by mumimor at 5:18 AM on October 5, 2015


How strange that Denmark has such a population problem that they would spend money on an ad campaign trying to get reluctant Danes to breed when they are also spending money on ads telling refugees to go away. I wonder why that might be.
posted by indubitable at 5:22 AM on October 5, 2015 [17 favorites]


Find me an OECD a country that doesn't try to incentivized childbirth through financial subsidies and/or direct cash payments. Parents vote and politicians provide kickbacks.
posted by srboisvert at 5:35 AM on October 5, 2015


Would Denmark let me move there if I promised to have Danish babies?

You know, after yet another mass shooting that will have zero effect on gun policy in the US, European countries with low birth rates could really recruit Americans with X ancestry to move there and have kids. I would.

(I know, maybe not the point for the European country, plus not sure if I could support an immigration policy that favored the "right" ethnicity that way. But pretty tempting).
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:28 AM on October 5, 2015


Yeah, given that there's lots of Syrians right now that would happily settle in Denmark and raise their kids, start businesses, and pay taxes if they were allowed to, this is pretty gross. The world has more than enough people. If your country needs more, there's plenty who will move there if you let them.
posted by emjaybee at 7:05 AM on October 5, 2015 [12 favorites]


You know, after yet another mass shooting that will have zero effect on gun policy in the US, European countries with low birth rates could really recruit Americans with X ancestry to move there and have kids. I would.

(I know, maybe not the point for the European country, plus not sure if I could support an immigration policy that favored the "right" ethnicity that way. But pretty tempting).


That would be hilarious.

Of course, Germany is already kind of doing this with their free universities.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:31 AM on October 5, 2015


Didn't I read somewhere that Earth's "population explosion" was a bad thing, and people need to quit lighting the fuse, as it were? Now I'm seeing entire countries posing on the edge of panic because their populations are not becoming more dense. During our demi-revolution a major plank for the counterculture was Zero Population Growth. If we Earthlings are to have a comfortable share of needful things in the Malthusian times that are looming just ahead, shouldn't we, you know, quit breeding like rabbits?

What happened?
posted by mule98J at 8:47 AM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


For better or worse, countries are concerned about their "nationality" dying. One can read for example that Japan is very xenophobic about protecting a Japanese national identity. It's a real tension between the very low birth rate and very aging population. They are needing to import workers, particularly for elder care, and yet they are concerned about retaining a Japanese identity.

Of course it's debatable whether it's healthy or good to be so tied to the idea of ethnic/cultural cohesion, but nonetheless it's a powerful desire.
posted by nakedmolerats at 9:19 AM on October 5, 2015 [3 favorites]


I am a fan of many aspects of the Danish culture (I learned their language, I watch their public television on dr.dk), and I would love to hop on over and help propagate it if I wasn't forever suspicision of being the "wrong" immigrant.
posted by Don Don at 10:08 AM on October 5, 2015


Do It For Mom! (And Denmark).

There's a Hamlet joke in here somewhere...
posted by Adridne at 10:38 AM on October 5, 2015 [3 favorites]


Something is heteronormative in the state of Denmark.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:13 PM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]


The ad is awfully charming and amusing, except for this:

But those who suffer the most are perhaps the mothers who will never experience having a grandchild.

One more time: Your children do not owe you grandchildren. That is a piss-poor excuse for bringing another life into this world.
posted by bryon at 7:46 PM on October 5, 2015 [2 favorites]


Something is heteronormative in the state of Denmark.

Their goal is to make more Danish babies, for which you still need a sperm and egg (although stem cells may change that). Gay couples would have to find a donor for the missing cell type.

Yeah, given that there's lots of Syrians right now that would happily settle in Denmark and raise their kids, start businesses, and pay taxes if they were allowed to, this is pretty gross.

Denmark is the 5th largest refuge per-captia in Europe, and Syria is one of the most common countries of origin for their emigrants. They've refused to take in any more because there are only so many refugees a country of 5 million people can handle. Especially since these aren't immigrants who have chosen to move to Denmark because they admire its culture/geography/whatever and expect to fit in; they're fleeing for their lives and are willing to stay anywhere.
posted by Rangi at 9:46 AM on October 12, 2015


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