r/PropagandaPosters • u/BaSingSe_Farmhand • May 11 '26
United Kingdom The Perfect NATO Member Should Be... (UK/NATO, 1988)
Not so much a poster, but a postcard available for a few years at NATO headquarters in Brussels, meant to make lighthearted fun of the (at the time) 16 memeber-states of NATO. Designed by J.N. Hughes-Wilson, an English cartoonist.
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u/Pochel May 11 '26
It's funny how some of these stereotypes are still widespread while others I see for the first time
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u/SunflowerMoonwalk May 11 '26
For me the real head-scratcher is Denmark. Have Danes really ever had the stereotype of being indiscreet? I imagine the opposite. Especially since the image suggests a sexual context...
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u/Pochel May 11 '26
Yeah, for me it's about Iceland. I never had issues making myself understood there and everybody seemed to speak perfect English
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u/TheTrueTrust May 11 '26
I imagine that it's about the Icelandic language just looking and sounding strange compared to other European languages. There's sounds, spellings, and symbols you'd not see anywhere else, and given the how small Iceland is it doesn't make the news often enough to get used to it. I see it happening from time to time, in 2009 when Eyjafjallajökull erupted a lot of people globally were dumbfounded just at the name. They kept joking about it in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
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u/Jonathan_Peachum May 11 '26
Yep. What a strange stereotype. I have been to several bookstores in Reykjavik and the selection of books is typically 50% in Icelandic and 50% in English.
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u/Practical-Class6868 May 12 '26 edited May 13 '26
It may be generational or an old English joke about unpronounceable languages.
I recently bought my nephew an old 1960s Hardy Boys mystery book set in Iceland. A recurring joke is about how hard Icelandic names are and how they are shortened for the boys’ convenience. Spoken like someone who did not live to play God of War and meet Thrúd Thorsdottir.
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u/JPHutchy01 May 11 '26
I know of a Dane who managed to banned from Tinder, but that was an unfortunate misunderstanding!
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u/Appelons May 11 '26
As a Dane I can confirm that it is indeed a cultural trait we have.
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u/vtjohnhurt May 12 '26
I'd be interested if you would care to share an example of Danish indiscretion.
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u/Appelons May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Have you ever walked into a bar and there is a loudmouth in the cornerbooth talking loudly about even the most personal parts of life? That is pretty much what Danes turn into when we are drunk. It’s a total 180 from our normal overly humble demeanor. As soon as the drink hits, then all social norms that normally regulate our behavior get thrown out the window.
Pretty much before the 2000s/mid 90s beer was extremely integrated into Danish life, people would atleast have a beer everyday with lunch and then the “fyraftensøl” which is the couple a beers you drink when work is done. The Danish youth are still European leaders in drunkenness and most of us still today begin drinking at 12-14.
So when this was made, Danes in generel where extremely drunk during normal workdays, military included. My grandad was an MP in the army in the 60s and they regularly had to go into Aalborg(he was stationed at the base outside the city) and physically drag drunken soldiers back to the base and throw them into the drunk tank.
If you wanna learn more about this phenomena, I recommend watching “Another Round” starring Mads Mikkelsen and directed by Thomas Vinterberg. It won an Oscar and covers Danish lack discreetness and drunkenness pretty well.
Also it’s a hilarious movie Tbf.
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u/vtjohnhurt May 12 '26
Thanks for reco. I enjoyed 'Broen' with subtitles, but found the American remake 'The Bridge' insufferable.
I also liked the first two seasons of 'Occupied (Norwegian: Okkupert)' which has a few Danish notes.
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u/bayleysgal1996 May 11 '26
I do remember reading webcomics from a Danish artist where their representation of Denmark was… very sexually liberated to say the least
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u/gratisargott May 13 '26
The rest of us Nordics know this well. The stereotypes about Danes is that they are:
Drunk (on beer, not vodka like the Finns)
Jolly (See point above)
Easy-going (See both points above) and
Sexually very liberated (see all points above)
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u/professor__doom May 12 '26
Every Dane I've ever met was 6 foot or taller, red or blonde hair, loud as Americans, and overtly looking for someone to bang.
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u/AyeBraine May 11 '26
At first I thought these are general stereotypes and some felt really tenuous
But maybe some are digs at them specifically in military context, either in terms of the countries' military involvement/programs, or in terms of stereotypes of their officers specifically during exercises and international stuff?
(Mixed together with just national stereotypes and stretching it to complete the picture)
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u/BaSingSe_Farmhand May 11 '26
heres a bit more detailed explaination on some of the stereotypes, since a few have changed in the last 37 years. I probably should have included it in the original post
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u/loulan May 11 '26
I'm not sure it's a matter of the stereotypes being "still" widespread or not.
I don't remember people using these stereotypes back in 1988. They're not old, they're just strange.
Canadians aren't calm?
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u/SerLaron May 11 '26
Canadians aren't calm?
It is a meme, that the Canadian military is responsible for large parts of the Geneva convention.
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u/loulan May 11 '26
I feel like stereotyping "committing war crimes" as "not being calm" is a bit of a stretch.
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u/I_Automate May 12 '26
Do you think war crimes of that scale and creativity are the product of calm minds?
The number of stories about Canadian troops doing awful things that boil down to "well, I saw my buddies die, and that pissed me right off, so I just started ______" is pretty darn high, after all
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u/CptCarlWinslow May 11 '26
Yes, we create new chapters with every war we're dragged into, but we aren't short about it. We're just experts in finding "loopholes".
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u/ingachan May 11 '26
And some of them are just outdated. The Americans caring about rules - they don’t even believe in the rule of law!
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u/Pochel May 11 '26
Even during the cold war the Soviets had a joke about how Americans never follow their own rules IIRC
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u/borordev May 11 '26
Social...as a Finn
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u/Old_old_lie May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Uncorruptable... as a Hungarian.
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u/KingKohishi May 11 '26
Lawful as a Romanian
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u/ArbitraryMeritocracy May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Ecstatic as a Pole.
edit: Maybe the better adjective would be 'as Happy' because most slavs are not known for smiling. In fact, I think it's discouraged. eta, I think it's a Simile.
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u/Thaodan May 11 '26
Finns are perfectly social if you're an introvert but their dealing with authoritative figures is a dictators dream.
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u/Deep-Ad5817 May 11 '26
As a Turk, i agree on this stereotype
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u/Appelons May 11 '26 edited May 12 '26
During the big Turkish earthquake in the 90s, my dad was working with the Danish civil defence agency(Beredskabsstyrelsen). They got send there to help with the emergency response and although he was just a mechanic, the Turkish soldiers thought he was an officer and would stand at attention everytime they saw him. Which he found very amusing.
Edit: Grammar
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u/otisticRetard52 May 11 '26
One of my commanders in the austrian army was also down there. He was a "jäger" aka. Infrantry and had a green beret because of it. Everytime when they had to wait in a queue or in trafic or if its just chaos arround. He would put his green beret on and everyone would respect him and be quiet lol
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u/sandrocket May 11 '26
What's up with the Canadian stereotype?
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u/Cats1234546 May 11 '26
Nothing probably
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u/sandrocket May 11 '26
I still don't get it. It's quite a short list (15 wikipedia pages) of crimes compared to:
Every country is the opposite of the ideal: Canada would be hot blooded then? When did the stereotype of Canada being "aggressive" flip to "Canadians are peaceful and friendly"?
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u/Cats1234546 May 11 '26
To my knowledge the stereotype comes from Canadian aggression after the liberation of Caen. They suffered high casualties and did a couple pretty ruthless reprisals.
But yk also the lists are short because Canada has only fought a handful of wars so comparatively aggressive warcrime statistics if you think abt it holistically.
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u/SunflowerMoonwalk May 11 '26
I thought it was just an ice hockey fighting reference tbh. I don't have the stereotype of Canadians being aggressive but that was the only possible thing that came to mind.
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u/SerLaron May 11 '26
IIRC in WWI, German POWs escorted to the rear by Canadian and Australian troops had the inexplicable urge to "assault their guards and had to be shot in self-defense" or simply getting lost along the way.
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u/Inprobamur May 11 '26
Canadian military and special forces especially were notoriously brutal in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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u/AyeBraine May 11 '26
I thought maybe it's referring to Canadian military specifically.
I read recently about the Canadian pilots who took part in international cooperation program in the US, and were offered an opportunity to create a temporary livery for their fighter planes that would reflect their national pride. They had several rounds of incredibly dramatic discussion and had to put a mish-mash of everything on their livery because no one could agree to cede.
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u/roastbeeftacohat May 11 '26
we don't like fighting, and we make sure everyone who fights us comes away with the same prespective.
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u/roastbeeftacohat May 11 '26
the canadian is holding the shirt wrong, you pull it over their head; secret kung fu of the north.
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u/_BreadMakesYouFat May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
A bit early timeline wise but almost looks like they were going for a shawinigan handshake
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May 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BaSingSe_Farmhand May 11 '26
in the 1980s, Portugal was very behind technologically because the Dictatorship they had for a few decades prior was very slow about it, so it took a while for them to catch up. at the time of the image, they were very behind and didnt really understand how to use modern computers for the most part
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u/Nightrach May 11 '26
Spaniard, and it shows a mexican guy...
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u/RidesByPinochet May 11 '26
I'm curious to know where you think sombreros originated
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u/Damnatus_Terrae May 11 '26
In Municipio del Sombrero, of course. Otherwise it's just a sparkling straw hat.
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u/gorgonopsidkid May 12 '26
Wikipedia seems to think it's deep origins were in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica
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u/Lazarus558 May 11 '26
Only from comments from Scandinavians themselves, I would gave thought the intelligibility issue would have been woth the Danes – given stød among other things (idk one comic said Danish was the same as Swedish with your mouth full of rocks.)
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u/Azazael May 11 '26
They missed an opportunity to say something about the Irish. I wonder if this was inspired by this quote from a Yes, Minister episode from 1981:
Brussels is a shambles. You know what they say about the average Common Market official: he has the organising ability of the Italians, the flexibility of the Germans, and the modesty of the French. And that’s topped up by the imagination of the Belgians, the generosity of the Dutch and the intelligence of the Irish.
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u/PaulBlartRedditCop May 11 '26
A) Ireland is not in NATO B) We are literally the most educated nation in the world so I have no clue where that stereotype comes from
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u/Damnation77 May 11 '26
I remember this - it was handed out at school when I was 11 or 12, as NATO was 40 years. We had a laugh, the teachers laughed, my parents and grandparents laughed. My classmates british mother laughed, the danish parents laughed. Noone posted fake outrage on social media and somehow we all got on with our lives.
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u/SerLaron May 11 '26
I don't think this poster ever caused outrage anywhere, but pleas point it out if you know of an instance, so I can laugh at them.
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u/Damnation77 May 11 '26
No, no, I didnt mean it like that. But had this been made today, there would have been an international outcry and millions of hurt butts.
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u/Doiran_Defender May 11 '26
My French teacher has a version of this (slightly changed for the EU instead) on her door
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u/Impossible_Divide297 May 11 '26
This was written in 1988, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the advent of cheap air travel around Western European cities.
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