Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT
Grocery shopping in Denmark and Greenland, now has political implications.
That's thanks to an app that tells shoppers what country their money will be going to when selecting a product from the shelf.
Born out of U-S President Donald Trump's threat to take over Greenland...
"One way or the other."
... and from mocking the country's defence capabilities...
"Greenland, basically their defence is two dog sleds. Do you know that? You know what their defence is? Two dog sleds."
53-year-old digital creator Ian Rosenfeldt created an app to help Danes make more informed choices when selecting a product from the shelf.
Afterall, it’s hard to boycott an empire when it’s disguised as breakfast cereal or dog food.
"Many people were frustrated and thinking about, how do we actually do this in practical terms? Because it's very difficult to see if the product, if you use a barcode scanner, for instance, it's difficult to see if the 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."
With that, Made O’Meter was born.
The app lets users photograph products, using artificial intelligence to identify where they’re made, who owns them, and where the profits end up - turning the weekly shop into a light audit of global power.
"You can now take a photo of several products and it will analyse. So, you can which ones it has identified, which ones are safe, and which ones to avoid. You can say, I don't want US products, I want only made in the EU."
No barcode required.
No fine print.
No riot police.
Just a quiet decision at the shelf.
"By using artificial intelligence, you can take an image of a product, it doesn't have to be a barcode, it could be any product, and it can make a deep dive to go out and find the correct information about the product in many levels. Who founded this product or brand? Who is the ultimate owner of it? And where is it produced? And this way, you have information that you can use to take decisions on what you think is right."
Interest surged in late January, just as President Trump dialled back his rhetoric in Davos, ruling out force, shelving tariffs, and announcing what he called a “framework” deal on Arctic security.
In Denmark, few felt reassured and the boycott picked-up speed.
"The past three days, there has been taken 70,000 photos of images by people, of course, by existing users, but also the new users who have downloaded the app or using the web browser version. In App Store, we gained, I think it's 15,000 new users in one day."
Made O’Meter isn’t alone.
Another Danish app, NonUSA, also lets shoppers scan products to check whether they’re American-owned.
Its co-founder Jonas Pipper says the effect is subtle but real.
"We kind of noticed with some users saying they felt like a little bit of the pressure what was lifted off them when they could scan the products that they use every day and figure out which aren't. They feel like they kind of gained the power back in this situation."
Economists say the impact is more symbolic than structural.
Christina Gravert from the University of Copenhagen says that only a small share of supermarket goods come from the U-S.
"So, if we look at Danish supermarkets, we have around 1 to 3 per cent of products that are actually from the U.S., so this is quite a small share. But if we think about how many people own an iPhone or use Netflix or use Amazon, Microsoft products, are communicating on Instagram, then we actually see that this is a large majority. So, if you really want to have an impact, also because these are network products and if fewer people use them, they become less important also to others. So, if really want to have an impact, that's where we should start."
Real change, she says, would require collective action, and not just individual resolve.
"So, I do think it can be interesting for big brands, big supermarket brands to say, okay, we're not going to carry these products anymore because consumers don't want to buy them. And if you think about the large companies, this might have some type of impact again on the import we do. But I think this would need to be more of an organised effort. it's not going to come from the individual consumer consuming less."
Outside a Copenhagen supermarket, Morten Nielsen, a 68-year-old retiree and former navy officer is considering replacing his U-S products and he blames the U-S President.
"Yeah, why, that's because of Trump's politics. Of course it is, and yes, we do boycott, but we don't know all the American goods. So, it's mostly the well-known trademarks. ... It's a personal feeling, mostly. So, we feel we do something, I know we are not doing very much."
Others like 64-year-old Niels Gronlykke are determined to teach the U-S a lesson.
"The situation right now in Europe and the U-S is not good, so I think they have to be taught the hard way that we don't buy it."
And some, like 63-year-old retiree, Charlotte Fuglsang, are unconvinced.
"I think it's because of Trump, which is, of course, a very, very unusual president. I don't think we should protest that way."
For now, Greenland remains off the market.
And in Denmark, American products are finding themselves quietly left on the shelf - scanned, judged, and passed over. ...
And Made O’Meter and NonUSA are no longer outliers.
They now sit alongside a growing digital toolbox of consumer protest from No Thanks, which helps users avoid companies linked to Israel, to Boycott X and Boycat - ethical shopping, where barcode scanners double as moral compasses for everything from human rights to environmental causes.
Different politics.
Different targets.
Same ritual.
Scan. Decide. Put it back.
It may not shake governments or rewrite trade policy, but it does mean that in 2026, global geopolitics can be navigated with a smartphone, a shopping trolley, and just enough indignation to skip the American brand.
Not a revolution.
Just a very organised checkout line.
