• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, November 27, 2024

“Leave it to the Norwegians!” is not a phrase much heard in the U.S.A. lately, or -- let’s face it -- ever. 

But when it comes to producing pitch-dark, bone-dry ad comedy, no one holds a candle to the Oslovians.

You might recall Norway’s anti-tourism tourist ad that tore up the internet last year.  Ostensibly, it promoted Oslo (“Is it even a city?”)

Its hangdog narrator perfectly captured the ad’s contrarian sensibility by opening with the line, “I wouldn’t come here, to be honest.”

Then he lists all the obvious negatives, like lack of crowds, walkability, and that “Everything is just so available…there’s no exclusiveness.”

Now Posten, the Norwegian national postal system, also known for creating ads with a sometimes-shocking counterintuitive punch, has dropped a masterly and hilarious almost-four-minute Christmas “mockumentary.”

Created by agency POL and directed by Kasper Haggstrom, “The Reinfall” features a behind-the-scenes look at the unfortunate trajectory of one Rudolph T. Reindeer -- from short-antlered outcast to Santa’s bright-nosed Head of Transportation, and then ravaged celebrity outcast.

Apparently, his promotion really went to his antlered head.

This has created a huge dilemma for Santa, (who to Americans will seem like a Santa on Ozempic.)  He needs nine reindeer to pull his sleigh, but only eight are ready-to-fly.

Although Rudy, who’s taken to wearing oversized Gucci-like glasses as he parties too hard, might be flying on some other substance.

The video, which will run online, on TV and in cinemas in Norway, deftly uses classic documentary tropes like grounding the story in historic footage and interviews with reindeer teammates Dasher, Prancer and Vixen, who are sad to lose their leader and resigned as they watch his flameout.

What’s not-so-classic, but most brilliant, is that the reindeer are portrayed as human actors wearing corporate garb and antlers. Whether for budgetary or simplicity reasons, this makes the film more intriguing.  It becomes a sly indictment of not only Christmas myths, but what it takes to climb that slippery ladder of success, whether in the human or animal kingdoms.

How holly jolly!

But speaking of humans, by showing the red-nosed one morphing from odd pariah to rock star to wasted egomaniac, the filmmakers somehow created a reinman with Elon Musk vibes. Perhaps the business of a red-nosed nerd leading a sleigh, cashing in, getting too famous, and then self-destructing, references tech start-up culture?

Still, that Rudy is so adaptive shows what a global force he has become in a relatively short time.

Let’s remember that Rudolph the R is an American fictional character, created in 1939 by Robert L May as a promotional Christmas book for Montgomery Ward, then a major department store. May’s daughter liked reindeer (sometimes called caribou here)  and at the time the tale was explained as "the fantasy story made to order for American children: each child has the need to express and receive approval for his or her individuality and/or special qualities.”

So the Norwegians might have hit on something most Americans have never thought about -- that even back then, Rudolph was a special snowflake.

As Hege Barbara Aarhus, campaign manager at Posten, explained in a statement: "This time, we wanted to shift the focus away from Santa and onto those who share our job of delivering gifts. While we won’t interfere with the North Pole’s operations, we are proud to show that Posten has delivered faithfully every Christmas since 1647 -- no matter how things are going up North.” And in the finale, the ad makes the point that though the sleigh might not be flying, Posten always delivers.

“As the world has felt dark for so long, we believe the best gift Posten can give is a touch of holiday laughter,” said Pia Emilie Lystad and Thea Heber Bjørndal Iversen, the creatives behind the campaign.

The humor is exceedingly dry, not to mention that it knocks a red-nosed American institution.

Part of me thinks it’s not nice to make fun of Rudolph.

But I have to say that watching the video made me want to travel to Norway.

Never mind the sights -- I’d go for the ads.