Iceland trolls Mark Zuckerberg and Meta in tourism video spoof

Iceland has spiced up its tourism marketing by spoofing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of the company's rebranding as it pivots to focus on the metaverse. Its latest video features actor Jörundur Ragnarsson as chief visionary officer Zack Mossbergsson sporting a short bowl haircut coupled with awkward body movements.

Mossbergsson welcomed viewers to "this very natural setting" and introduced a "not-so-new chapter in human connectivity", The Icelandverse, an enhanced reality without silly-looking headsets. "In our open world experience, everything is real and has been for millions of years," he said, adding that it is completely immersive.

This includes water that is wet, horses people can ride with hair they can touch, volcanic rocks they can caress, waterfalls they can stand near, big geysers which they can observe from a distance, and skies tourists can see with their eyeballs. At the end of it, Mossbergsson described Iceland to be "a world with possibilities so endless they will be here forever" before going on to awkwardly reveal the new logo for Icelandverse, spoofing Zuckerberg's unveiling of the newly rebranded company Meta. Zuckerberg took the joke in his stride, commenting on the tourism organisation's Facebook page that he needs to make a trip to the Icelandverse soon. M&C Saatchi was involved in the creation of the video.

Earlier this month, Facebook's parent company rebranded to Meta as it plans to be metaverse-first instead of Facebook-first. Zuckerberg said Meta, which also means "beyond", represents the next chapter that is a future created by everyone that will take society beyond what digital connection makes possible today - beyond the constraints of screens.

Zuckerberg said during its earnings call that metaverse is "a major investment" for the company and an important part of its strategy. The company also invested US$50 million in a XR Programs and Research fund for a period of two years to build the metaverse responsibly.

Meta's rebranding, however, was marred by chatter about the harmful effects presented by its apps including Facebook and Instagram. This first came about when The Wall Street Journal published its investigative series titled "The Facebook Files" and the leaked internal documents were later handed over to multiple news outlets including the Financial Times and NBC News. Since then, former Facebook employee and whistleblower, Frances Haugen, said the company will unlikely change it Zuckerberg remains in his role.

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