The official tourism agency of Norway launched a viral campaign that became a textbook case of institutional communication: after being called a "shithole country" by Donald Trump, it responded with humor, zero confrontation, and free publicity worth millions of dollars.
The incident occurred on October 25 during a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, where Trump vented his frustration against the Scandinavian country with a statement that left no room for interpretation: "I'm not in love with Norway, frankly. Norway stinks. Norway has become a shithole country, really."
The president added that he did not want Norwegian immigrants in the United States nor wanted anything to do with the country.
The origin of the presidential anger was the Nobel Peace Prize 2026, which the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded on October 9 to the South African lawyer Navanethem «Navi» Pillay, 85 years old, for her work in human rights.
Trump, who did not win the award despite being a candidate, had described the decision as "shameful" and as an "indelible stain" for Norway, and stated that he had never heard of Pillay.
The diplomatic response came from the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, who solemnly reminded that the Nobel Committee is an independent body from the Oslo government. However, the reply that made headlines around the world was another.
Visit Norway, the official tourism agency, launched a campaign on October 29 and 30 with the slogan "Norway makes shithouses great again" — a direct wordplay on the Trump slogan "Make America Great Again" — along with a guide to the most spectacular public restrooms in the country: internationally acclaimed architectural installations set against fjords, snowy mountains, waterfalls, and Arctic coastlines.
Among the highlighted examples were the Stegastein viewpoint in the Sognefjord, Ureddplassen on the Helgeland coast, Gulldassen — a golden toilet on the island of Senja — and a solar installation also in the Sognefjord. All are part of the 18 National Tourist Routes of Norway.
The move was as clever as it was economical: the agency reused material that had already been produced for World Toilet Day, celebrated on November 19, making the response a low-cost, high-impact operation. The video published on YouTube titled “Norwegian Spectacular Public Toilets” garnered thousands of views in just a few hours.
The international coverage was immediate. Associated Press, CNN, Bloomberg, France24, The Irish Times, and dozens of Latin American and European media outlets picked up the story, generating a wave of spontaneous publicity for the Norwegian tourist brand.
The episode fits into a pattern of disparaging remarks by Trump towards allied countries.
In January 2018, he had already been accused of referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as "shithole countries," while asking why the United States did not accept more immigrants from Norway. In 2026, his attacks extended to Denmark over Greenland and Europe in general.
Regarding the Nobel, Trump has been claiming the prize without success for years: he was a candidate in 2020, 2021, and 2025 — when the award went to the Venezuelan María Corina Machado — and in 2026, when the Committee received 287 nominations. Each time he was left out, he responded by attacking the process and Norway as the host country.
Pillay herself responded humorously upon hearing the announcement: she joked in Nuremberg that she might share the award with Trump if the audience applauded louder.
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