The makers of mobile applications designed to assist shoppers in identifying and boycotting American goods have reported a significant increase in interest from Denmark and beyond. This surge follows recent threats made by U.S. President Donald Trump concerning Greenland.
Over recent months, President Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, for the United States. His rhetoric has included threats of force and tariffs, prompting a diplomatic crisis that peaked in late January.
Apps Offer Practical Solutions
In response to this geopolitical tension, Ian Rosenfeldt, the creator of the Made O’Meter app, noted approximately 30,000 downloads of his free app within three days during the height of the crisis. Since its launch in March, the app has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
In mid-January, thousands of Danes took to the streets, chanting “Greenland is not for sale” and carrying banners with messages such as “Hands off Greenland.” Rosenfeldt, a Copenhagen-based digital marketer, developed the app after joining a Facebook group dedicated to boycotting U.S. goods.
“Many people were frustrated and thinking, ‘How do we actually do this in practical terms?'” Rosenfeldt explained. “If you use a barcode scanner, it’s difficult to see if a product is actually American or not, if it’s Danish or not. And if you don’t know that, you can’t really make a conscious choice.”
The latest version of Made O’Meter employs artificial intelligence to identify and analyze multiple products simultaneously, suggesting European-made alternatives. Users can set preferences such as “No USA-owned brands” or “Only EU-based brands,” with the app boasting over 95% accuracy.
“By using artificial intelligence, you can take an image of a product … and it can make a deep dive to go out and find the correct information about the product in many levels,” Rosenfeldt stated during a demonstration at a Copenhagen grocery store. “This way, you have information that you can use to take decisions on what you think is right.”
Surge in Downloads
After an initial spike in downloads at launch, app usage dwindled until January when President Trump intensified his rhetoric about acquiring Greenland. Usage peaked on January 23, with nearly 40,000 scans in one day compared to around 500 daily during the previous summer.
Though numbers have since decreased, there are still about 5,000 scans daily, according to Rosenfeldt. Made O’Meter is used by over 20,000 people in Denmark and also has users in Germany, Spain, Italy, and Venezuela. Denmark’s population is just over 6 million, according to Statistics Denmark.
“It’s become much more personal,” Rosenfeldt commented, adding that the U.S. had lost “an ally and a friend.” In January, President Trump announced new tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries opposing his Greenland ambitions, only to withdraw his threats after a “framework” for a deal was reportedly reached with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s assistance. Few details of this agreement have emerged.
The U.S. began technical talks in late January to establish an Arctic security deal with Denmark and Greenland, both of which maintain that sovereignty is non-negotiable.
Symbolic Boycotts
Rosenfeldt acknowledges that such boycotts are unlikely to significantly impact the U.S. economy but hopes to send a message to supermarkets and encourage greater reliance on European producers. “Maybe we can send a signal and people will listen and we can make a change,” he said.
Another Danish app, NonUSA, surpassed 100,000 downloads at the beginning of February. One of its creators, 21-year-old Jonas Pipper, reported over 25,000 downloads on January 21, with 526 product scans occurring in a single minute. Approximately 46,000 users are in Denmark, with around 10,000 in Germany.
“We noticed some users saying they felt like a little bit of the pressure was lifted off them,” Pipper noted. “They feel like they kind of gained the power back in this situation.”
Despite the enthusiasm, the practical effects of these apps are debatable. Christina Gravert, an associate professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen, pointed out that few U.S. products are found on Danish grocery shelves, comprising “around 1 to 3 percent,” including items like nuts, wines, and confectionery.
American technology, however, is widely used in Denmark, from Apple iPhones to Microsoft Office tools. “If you really want to have an impact, that’s where you should start,” Professor Gravert suggested. Notably, Made O’Meter and NonUSA are both downloaded from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
Organized Effort Needed for Change
Professor Gravert, who specializes in behavioral economics, stated that boycott campaigns are typically short-lived, and real change often requires an organized effort rather than individual consumer actions.
“It can be interesting for big supermarket brands to say, ‘OK, we’re not going to carry these products anymore because consumers don’t want to buy them,'” she said. “If you think about large companies, this might have some type of impact on the import [they] do.”
On a recent morning, shoppers leaving a Copenhagen grocery store expressed mixed feelings. “We do boycott, but we don’t know all the American goods. So, it’s mostly the well-known trademarks,” said Morten Nielsen, a 68-year-old retired navy officer. “It’s a personal feeling … we feel we do something, I know we are not doing very much.”
Conversely, 63-year-old retiree Charlotte Fuglsang expressed her fondness for America. “I love travelling in America,” she said. “I don’t think we should protest that way.”
