Thursday, May 11th, 2006:Hotdog poster advertising in Helsingborg

What I think:

I was walking down Södergatan with my girlfriend the other day, and we noticed a poster advertising hotdogs outside a fastfood place.

For some reason, hotdogs that are shoved in one end of a bun are called "French". I suppose it could be because the bread used is more like a baguette in its texture than a regular hotdog bun.

In any case, the poster in question advertised a choice of three varieties of "French man". This is apparently what the first hotdog is saying, according to the helpful, but pointless, speech bubble.

But what first strikes you is not what the choices are, but the images of the hotdogs themselves. They don't exactly inspire my appetite. In fact, never before in my life have I associated fastfood with gay porn. Check this out:

Psychiatrist: 'Tell me what you see.'

Have I got a dirty mind? If so, my girlfriend has as well.

I have a theory. The company that manufactures these particular hotdogs, Pølsemannen, is Danish. I think that these posters are specifically made for the Swedish market as some little Danish joke against the Swedes.

Have a look at the text at the bottom of the poster:

"ingen vanlig korvgubbe" is Swedish for (roughly) "not your usual sausage guy". Yeah, I'll say.

I just wonder how many Swedes actually take notice. Which then makes me wonder whether vendors sell more or less hotdogs than if they'd just had "hotdogs" listed as one of the items on their menus. In other words, are people subconciously repelled by or attracted to the idea of munching on semi-flaccid hotdogs in foreskin-like buns?

Personally, I think it's disgraceful that posters like this are on public display on busy streets, where children can not only see them, but may even ask their parents if they can have one. It's time that the Swedish government did something about it. That's what I think.