The Swedish monopoly Systembolaget has launched a new political propaganda campaign both in Sweden and in Europe. The campaign uses as a pretext a wish to inform the EU president Mr Barroso about the danger of alcohol. The managing director of Systembolaget, Anitra Steen, says that she is not worried about the future of the monopoly, on the contrary. The campaign is just there to make you think a bit. For 8 million kronor (845,000 euro): ad in the Financial Times (760,000kr), ads in some 70 Swedish papers (4.5M kr) and a propaganda film and a dedicated web site. It is curious that the Systembolaget AB is not just executing the policies that the government has decided but is actually doing its own political campaigning. Read a leader comment in The Local.
