World Votes Americans "Coolest Nationality": Global Poll

News provided by

Sep 07, 2011, 09:20 ET

LONDON, September 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Obama "coolest leader"; Gaga "coolest singer"; Jay-Z, "coolest rapper"; Apple's Steve Jobs "coolest techie"

• African-Americans invented 'cool'; Americans still lead the cool world

• Spanish coolest Europeans; Brazilians coolest Latin Americans; Canadians cooler than Belgians; Belgians least cool

Americans have been voted the world's "coolest nationality" in an international poll which also names the Spanish the coolest Europeans, Brazilians the coolest Latin Americans and Belgians the globe's least cool people.

30,000 people across 15 countries were asked to name the coolest nationality in an online poll conducted by Badoo.com (http://www.badoo.com), the world's largest social network for meeting new people with 121 million users worldwide.

Americans top the Badoo vote, ahead of the Brazilians in second and Spanish third. The Belgians rank last, with even Poles and Canadians judged cooler.

"We hear lots in the media about anti-Americanism", says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "But we sometimes forget how many people across the world consider Americans seriously cool."

Of course, not all Americans are cool. Far from it. Some - like Eminem, Samuel L Jackson, Johnny Depp and Quentin Tarantino - are way cooler than others.

African-Americans, however, are the dudes who invented cool and Americans still lead the cool world.

"America", says Price, "boasts the world's coolest leader, Obama; the coolest singer, Lady Gaga; the coolest rappers, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg; and the coolest techie, Steve Jobs of Apple, who has even made geeks cool."

America's victory in the Badoo poll is a fitting tribute to the nation that has given the world more icons of cool than anyone.

These include everything from jazz to blues; rap to rock 'n roll; blue jeans to tail-fins; high-fives to hip-hop; Ray-Bans to iPads to Harley Davidsons; Steve McQueen to Jason Bourne, and skateboarding and surfing.

You don't need to be cool to use Badoo, adds Price. "Folks of all temperatures - cool, hot, whatever - meet via Badoo. That includes both a growing number of Americans and even many Belgians."

COOLEST NATIONALITIES

    1.    American
    2.    Brazilians
    3.    Spanish
    4.    Italians
    5.    French

LEAST COOL

    1.    Belgians
    2.=   Poles
    2.=   Turks
    4.    Canadians
    5.    Germans

• COOL AMERICANS
Steve Jobs
Jay-Z
Lady Gaga
Barack Obama
Johnny Depp
Quentin Tarantino
Marlon Brando
Quentin Tarantino
Steve McQueen
Michael Jackson

• AMERICAN COOLICONS
Apple (iPod, iPhone, iPad)
Jazz
Blues
Surfing
Ray-Bans
Harley Davidson
Levi's
Converse
Facebook
Sundance Film Festival
The Wire