The Hollywood star spoke last year about her Finnish roots and her desire to change her surname to that of her grandfather, Herman Hyytiäinen.
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Finnish actor Janne Hyytiäinen stars in the short film, sending a personal invitation to Pamela Anderson to visit Helsinki. Image: Akseli Valmunen / Helsingin kaupunki
The City of Helsinki has sent a personal, open invitation to Canadian-American actress Pamela Anderson via the medium of a short film.
The idea behind the video, which has been widely shared on social media over the past few days, stems from the Baywatch star’s stated desire to change her surname to that of her grandfather, Herman Hyytiäinen.
Anderson revealed her intention in an interview with Vogue Scandinavia at the end of last year, when she spoke about the importance of her relationship with her grandfather and the “magical language that no one else could understand” — Finnish — she believed as a child they shared.
“He was the closest person to me in my life,” she told the magazine.
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Pamela Anderson pictured at the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month. Image: Michael Tran / AFP
The City of Helsinki’s film features the Finnish actor Janne Hyytiäinen — potentially a “long lost cousin”, according to the City — inviting Anderson to visit the Finnish capital and discover more about her roots.
He explains that, according to Finnish law, there are three ways she could go about officially changing her name to Hyytiäinen: marriage, adoption or citizenship.
The short film, titled “Operation: Make Pamela a Hyytiäinen”, is a tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign that promotes Helsinki as a place to visit — and also includes a tourism guide called “24 hours in Helsinki as Pamela Hyytiäinen“.
Campaign costs exceed 100,000 euros
The campaign was planned and executed by Helsinki Partners, a company owned by the city and tasked with attracting international visitors, talent, and investments to the capital.
According to the City’s information, the costs for “Operation: Make Pamela a Hyytiäinen” are about 110,000 euros — 60,000 euros in production costs and 50,000 for marketing and social media.
A spokesperson for the City said they have been happy with the campaign’s reach during its first few days, with about half a million views already registered as the video has also garnered a good deal of buzz abroad.
“There have been about 158 mentions in international media at this stage,” Helsinki Partners’ brand and PR director Soila Lehkonen said.
Although the campaign invites Pamela Anderson to visit Helsinki, her roots are not in the capital but in Saarijärvi, a village of about 8,000 inhabitants some 60 kilometres northwest of the city of Jyväskylä.
“Helsinki is a natural place to start a visit and to get to know Finland,” Lehkonen said.
However, as of the time of writing, Anderson has yet to respond to the invitation.