Iceland has poked fun at Mark Zuckerberg in a humorous tourism video inviting people to take a trip to the “Icelandverse”.
In the video, actor Jorunder Ragnarsson is introduced as a “Chief Visionary Officer” named Zack Mossbergsson who, sporting Zuckerberg’s short cut hair and black crew-neck sweater, extolls Iceland’s “completely immersive experiences”.
“Hi, and welcome to this very natural setting,” the caricature says in a sleek room that looks suspiciously similar to the setting of the promotional video where Zuckerberg announced Facebook was rebranding to Meta.
In the tourism video, the speaker parodies this concept by introducing viewers to the “Icelandverse”, a place of “enhanced actual reality without silly looking headsets.”
“Today I want to talk about a revolutionary approach on how to connect our world – without being super weird,” he deadpans to the camera.
Standing in front of a picturesque snowy backdrop, he adds: “to them, we say ‘it’s already here’…and what do we call this not-so-new chapter in human connectivity? The Icelandverse.”
The video has become a viral sensation, amassing more than 875k views on YouTube. This is even greater than Meta’s own video on 847k viewers at the time of writing.
It is currently featured on the front page of the website for the Icelandic embassy in London.
Best verse yet!!! #Icelandverse impressively immersive and spatial! https://t.co/GjX2pXdgAU
— Marco DeMiroz (@marcodemiroz) November 12, 2021
Mark Zuckerberg appears to be a fan of the parody, writing: “Amazing. I need to make a trip to the Icelandverse soon. Glad you’re wearing sunscreen too.”
The video is a creation of Inspired by Iceland, which is run by Iceland’s official tourism board.
Iceland has been a popular holiday destination among European tourists over the years. In 2019, the Nordic nation welcomed two million visitors and is likely to welcome around 700,000 travellers this year.
