A new survey, conducted by market researcher TNS-Sifo for IOGT-NTO, shows that 8 out of 10 Swedes support the Swedish ban on televised alcohol advertisements. Despite this public support, a number of TV channels continuously circumvent the ban by broadcasting from abroad. 

The survey, held in May of 2011 shows that 80 percent of the Swedish population support a ban on alcohol advertisement on television. An increase of 7 percentage points compared to a similar survey made in 2009. Almost as many Swedes think that the Swedish broadcasters are wrong when permitting alcohol advertisements, they consider this as illegal.

Televised alcohol advertising is not allowed in Sweden, but as reported earlier, since 2003 a number of TV channels have circumvented the Swedish Alcohol Act by broadcasting from the UK.

‘It is unbelievable that televised alcohol advertisements continu to be broadcasted, even though there is a strong public opinion against it. It is provocative that they obviously ignore the Swedish laws’, says Anna Carlstedt, President of IOGT-NTO Sweden.

In April 2011, IOGT-NTO Sweden filed a complaint with the Swedish Consumer Agency and the Swedish Broadcasting Authority concerning 32 companies who have broadcasted or produced alcohol advertisements for the television medium targeting a Swedish audience.

‘Research shows that alcohol marketing increases the likelihood of children and adolescents starting to use alcohol at an early age, as well as drinking more if they are already using alcohol. We hope that our complaint will lead to the same result as the opinion of the Swedish people: a television free of alcohol advertising’, says Anna Carlstedt.

Source: IOGT.SE

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