MFA: Surprise New Year’s emoji celebrates Finnish ski-jumping madness

MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
http://formin.finland.fi/english

Press release 290/2015
29 December 2015

Surprise New Year’s emoji celebrates Finnish ski-jumping madness

Finns are crazy about ski jumping: some get their thrills soaring off a slope at more than 100 kilometres an hour, while others cheer on their national champions from the comfort of their sofas at home. This obsession with ski jumping has inspired a little New Year’s Eve gift from the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs: an emoji immortalising all-time ski jumping legend Matti Nykänen. The jumper, who earned three Olympic gold medals and four World Cup titles, appears in his suit from the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

Released on the second day of the European Four Hills Tournament, the emoji honours not only Nykänen’s astounding athletic career but also other Finnish men and women who have excelled in the sport – in the hope that this symbol will help encourage them to new heights.

Nykänen’s emoji brings him into a prestigious group as only three of the 30 Finland emojis depict world-renowned Finns. The two previous individual emoji figures represent peace mediator and Nobel laureate Martti Ahtisaari and Formula One racer Kimi Räikkönen.

This month Finland became the first country to issue its own set of national emojis. These tongue-in-cheek emblems depict Finnish feelings, strengths and vices. They are part of the 2015 Christmas calendar presented by ThisisFINLAND, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ country image website. The Christmas calendar emojis are explained for foreign audiences at xmas.finland.fi. There you can read the story behind the Matti emoji, as well as classic Nykänen quips from over the years such as “life is life”.

The Finland emojis can be downloaded for Android devices from Google Play and for iOS devices from the App Store. The Nykänen emoji will be updated for iOS slightly later. Emoji stickers are also available for all devices from the Christmas calendar page, xmas.finland.fi. The emojis are also featured in the following apps: iMoji, Jongla, Futurefly and gotIT. More Finland emojis will appear this spring, as the summer collection is unveiled. Finland emojis are digital stickers that are visible on all devices, even if the recipient has not downloaded the emoji set.

ThisisFINLAND is produced by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and published by the Finland Promotion Board. The Board coordinates all the organisations involved in Finland’s country image work and sets the annual country branding focal points.

For more information: Managing Editor Jenita Cresswell, Unit for Public Diplomacy, tel. + 358 295 351 326.