Cecilia Sajland, marketing manager for Kalles, said, “We wanted to show other nationalities’ incomprehension when it comes to very Swedish tastes like Kalles,” adding, “We wanted Swedes to feel unique and proud of the brand and the taste.”
The recipe for Kalles was sold by a peddler to Abba Seafood, a defunct Swedish company, in the early 1950s, for 1,000 Swedish kronor, or less than $200 at the time. It was originally sold in plain tubes, according to an account on Orkla’s website. But the tubes were soon made over to feature Swedish colors — blue and yellow — and a picture of the son of the chief executive of Abba Seafood. The son, now grown up, receives a free lifetime supply.
—Danny Hakim writing in The New York Times about the cheeky ad campaign for Kalles Kaviar, the popular Scandinavian pink goo you squeeze from a tube onto crackers and bread.
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