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The 2002 Alcohol Monopoly Campaign 183

Attitude to Advertisement
One-third of the respondents answered that it is good that Systembolaget adver-
tises the benefits of the alcohol monopoly, one-third disliked the idea, and one-
third had no opinion. The attitude was more positive among the respondents
who had seen the campaign: 54% were positive, 20% were negative, and 26%
were neutral.

Satisfaction with Systembolaget
In total, 40% of the respondents were satisfied with Systembolaget overall (not
only concerning the attitude to the alcohol monopoly), 4% were dissatisfied,
and 56% were neutral. The most satisfied were frequent customers, respondents
living in big cities, and persons being 30 to 59 years old. The least satisfied were
younger respondents (ages 16 to 29) and persons living in rural areas. The non-
customers were the most dissatisfied.

The Campaign Outcomes
A marketing research company has regularly conducted public opinion surveys
over the years with a national random sample of 1,500 individuals. In the end of
2001, before the first monopoly campaign was launched in November 2002, the
OPI (public opinion index) was 49% (people positive toward maintaining the
alcohol monopoly). A public opinion survey was performed in December 2002,
right after the first campaign (see Figure 8-3). The question asked when deter-
mining the attitude to Systembolaget was whether they would vote for keeping
4
the alcohol monopoly if a referendum was carried out. The initial goal to in-
crease the OPI from 49% to an average of 54% in three years had already been
reached at the end of 2002, when the OPI was 57%. The increase in OPI could be
due to the campaign, but it could also be explained by the overall change of
Systembolaget into a modern retail organization with a new store concept and
graphic profile.
The results show that 57% of the public wanted to keep the alcohol monop-
oly. The customers were less positive (53% of the customers wanted to keep the
alcohol monopoly) than the general public. More women than men were in fa-
vor of keeping the alcohol monopoly.

4 The exact question asked was, “Do you think one should keep Systembolaget and the alcohol mo-
nopoly for sales of strong beer, wine, and strong liquor, or do you want strong beer, wine, and
strong liquor to be sold in other stores?”