Norway’s national day is just a couple of weeks away, and there are plenty of flags, whistles and bows in the shops. Some of them are not allowed to be sold, reports Avisa Oslo.
This applies to bows, or other effects, with the national coat of arms on them. It is particularly unpopular if the national coat of arms is made of metal, so that it can be used on jacket badges.
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– Will not sell anything that is not legal
– Such jacket tags are not allowed, says press guard in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mathias Rongved, to Avisa Oslo.
At Clas Ohlson, the bows are still on sale on Friday morning, even after they have been made aware of the situation.
– You still sell them?
– We haven’t had time to make any decisions about what to do going forward. We have a supplier with whom we are in dialogue, but we have not reached a conclusion yet, says Anders Wahl, press contact at Clas Ohlson, to Dinside.
He also points out that it is a product that is sold by many players.
– This is a product we like, and which the customer likes, but we do not want to sell something that is not legal.
When DinSide did a round of nearby shops in central Oslo on Friday morning, there were few national weapons to be found on the May 17 loops. Online, however, is easy to obtain. Among the players who sell May 17 bows with the national coat of arms, we find, among others, Oda, Nille, Sparkjøp and Europris.
DinSide has contacted all these places for a comment.
Warning: – Watch out!
This is what the chains say
– Spar Kjøp has a long tradition of offering popular items until 17 May. Everything from party costumes, bunad shoes, table settings, toys, flags and bunad bows, says Markus Eide Knudsen, deputy managing director of Sparkjøp to DinSide.
– We aim to be the preferred store for a festive national day. We are now registering statements that include two products that we carry in our range, and are in dialogue with the supplier to investigate the matter further.
Commercial director at Oda, Tor Erik Aag, tells DinSide that they were not aware that this was a problem.
– We have focused mostly on how we can help busy families in the preparations for 17 May. We need to sit down with Rema, who supplies this item to us, and find out how to handle this further, so that we don’t repeat this mistake.
Rema, for its part, does not carry such loops, according to press contact in Rema 1000, Anders Midtbø.
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Illegal, or not allowed
Ragnhild H. Simenstad, communications adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explains to DinSide that the national coat of arms is reserved for the state in the exercise of its authority.
– Depictions of the national coat of arms must not be used in such a way that it gives the incorrect impression that the person using it has a public position or service. Therefore, the national coat of arms cannot be used in a commercial context, as souvenirs or the like, she writes in an email.
When it comes to the tradition of wearing a May 17 bow in the colors of the flag and with a national coat of arms on it, Simenstad says that the long tradition of this means that a special exception can be made for such products.
– A prerequisite is that the national coat of arms is treated respectfully and that it is reproduced correctly. This has been particularly relevant where the national coat of arms is reproduced on a paper band around the bow, since such bands will not be able to be removed and used for other purposes. The national coat of arms as a jacket badge can only be used as part of a public service uniform, she explains.
This is one of the reasons why the ministry is more restrictive with regard to reproduction of the national coat of arms in metal, and especially if such badges can be removed and used as a jacket badge independently of the bow.
– That metal badges that can be removed from the May 17 bows and used separately are sold to private individuals is something we are not happy about, she emphasizes.
Tip: If the last few years are anything to go by, it may pay to wait until National Day is even closer if you are in the market to stock up on 17 May effects. The price of flags, decorations and frills tends to fall a little closer to the day, especially in grocery stores. In recent years, you have been able to buy simple children’s flags for as little as one krone each.
