Swedish Sunshine

Tulips in Bloom

Spring is really coming into full bloom here in Stockholm.  Spring not only brings bursting blooms but also almost continuous sunshine.  The sun is now up and about by 4:30 am and lingers for more the 16 ½ hours. By late June, we will reach our sunshine peak when the sun will clock in at 18 hours, 37 minutes and 12 seconds of continuous daylight.

After months of cold and drearily darkness, you would think everyone would welcome this gift of sunshine with open arms.

Well it turned out that a bronze toned, hot looking model anchoring a swimwear ad campaign for H&M, a Swedish major retailer, has some drawn unexpected criticism.   

Its not that hot looking models are anything out of the ordinary in Stockholm fashion ads.  Some may hold to a common misconception that Swedes are an oversexed, barely clad people who disdain even a fig leaf sense of modesty.  Such has not been our experience. 

Renaissance Italians we have seen, however, have raced though periods embracing full frontal nudity to clever concealment and then back again.  Helen who is in her second and final week of travel on the Italian island of Sicily can surely acquit herself well in this hotbed of exposed private parts.  What could possibly go wrong?

So it was not for a lack of modesty that criticism was directed at H&M for its ad campaign.  Rather it was the Swedish Cancer Society that took H&M to task for plastering the image of the overly tanned beauty before the impressible eyes of young Swedish women.  The cancer society noted, "Every year, more people die in Sweden of skin cancer than in traffic accidents, and the main cause is too much sunning."

It is not known if the olive-skinned Isabeli Fontana obtained her deeply bronzed hue through makeup, digital enhancement or hours in the sun worship. It didn’t matter. H&M issued an apology. “We are sorry if we have upset anyone with our latest swimwear campaign."

This not the first time H&M had come under fire for its selection of models for its ad campaigns.  They have previously been criticized for the use of, very, very thin models.   Opps!

Well the swimwear ad campaign continues.  Swedes continue to seek the warming rays of increasing sunshine.  We are not far behind clutching our SPF 45 sunscreen.

Below is our video of this blog entry.  Enjoy.