The tourist boards of some countries (I’m talking to you Kazakhstan) will fight tooth-and-nail in a vain battle against stereotypes of their country and citizens; Sweden, however, in a typically pacifistic move, has decided to embrace theirs as a marketing gimmick. At the website Stockholm – The Musical, Visit Sweden has set up an e-card generator where you can add your or a friend’s name, a preset “peculiarity” (prudish, talks only English), and watch as both are blended into an a musical extravaganza of Swedish clichés – wacky accents! guys named Sven! dancing meatballs! blondes in bikinis! The all-singing, all-dancing Stockholmers vying for your tourist cash are terrifyingly perky, and promise to “kiss your ass wherever you go.” Even weirder is that this approach appears to be specifically targeted at UK citizens, to judge by the list of names you can choose from; there aren’t too many Gareths, Fionas, and Ians round these parts. I’d really like to how they came up with this idea, one too many rounds of Pripps Blå, perhaps? (via Jaunted)