Tove Jansson Yhdyspankki ads: how Moomin taught children to save money

This is a fun tidbit. In the mid-1950s Tove Jansson illustrated ads for the Finnish bank Yhdyspankki and it’s all original artwork. Moomin, Hemulen, Snufkin, and Little My are all featured.

Tove Jansson Yhdyspankki ads  Tove Jansson Yhdyspankki ads

The intention was to get children to learn to save money and the bank had made blue, red, and green piggy banks in the shape of world globes for the cause. The globe can be seen on Hemulen’s desk in the first illustration. You had to deposit 500 marks however to get a globe but it was made out of plastic, which was a fairly new material at the time.

We’re not sure of how this cooperation came to be but a few years before the ads, Tove had created a wall painting at the bank’s main office in Helsinki. Perhaps that’s the connection.

Muumit Moomin Mumin Yhdyspankki 3