Wine Freedom - Vinfrihet

You may or may not have seen my face plastered around town lately as part of our Change Lådvin 2010 campaign and it has had a remarkable impact on how people react to me in the street and on the T-bana.

Previously people would treat me like anyone else, just ignore me, look through me as though I did not exist. Unlike in Italy or France where people checked you out and made eye contact with you.

Since our controversial campaign against Bag in Box wine which makes up for 60% of wine sold in Sweden, I feel I have offended a lot of people, perhaps more than 60%.

My reasoning for this asusmption is that now people ignore me even more than before (is that possible, you ask?). Today on the pendeltåg a parent from our daughter’s football team whom we see every week, looked right at me and did not respond to my smile. Is she a disgruntled bag in box drinker?

Then I walked in to a women’s clothes store to buy a present for my wife and the only other person in the store was the sales assistant and she ignored me too.

Someone I sat opposite on the t-bana was 5 minutes later also sitting opposite me on the pendeltåg so I smiled at them too. When they reached for their phone I thought they were going to call the psychiatric helpline to have me reported for unwarranted friendliness but alas it was just a distraction to avoid me, ignore me, act as though I do not exist.

Gee, these bag in box drinkers are everywhere in Stockholm and must be pretty annoyed with me. How long can I bear being ignored like this?

Cheers! hello, I said cheers….any reply?

Mark

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I received a very interesting comment on my last posting, about children learning from their parents. …”I mean what do you expect from kids, when the Parents themselves have been bought up with no manners, or standards!” wrote Hones.

Obviously children are greatly influenced by their parents and the society in which they live. Parents who are polite, social, teach their children manners and lead by example are less likely to have offspring who end up working at On Off!

Search You Tube for Bag in Box and you may as well write Sverige in their too as it is predomiantly Swedes who contribute videos of them getting drunk, jumping on and singing / rapping about this Swedish cultural icon. Since Systembolaget started providing financial incentives to purchase wine in a plastic bag instead of a box it has swamped wine culture and is starting to do the same for our society in general.

Do parents consider the example they are setting when they opt for quantity of alcohol over quality? Will they discourage their children at age 20 to buy 3L boxes of vodka on the Finland ferries?

Bag in Box may be lagom but what lesson do we give our children about how to appreciate and consume alcohol responsibly?

There are two interesting vidoes on my Change Lådvin 2010 blog worth watching: www.lådvin.nu

I agree with you Honest, as parents we have an obligation to set a good example in many ways, all ways in fact!

cheers

Mark

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We had a great response to the Stockholm poster campaign for Change Lådvin 2010 and now we are taking it South and to the front side of Sweden, Göteborg.

Last week we put up the posters around Stockholm and took them down again on Monday (what was left after the posters were souveniered). Last night we put the posters up around Malmö and Göteborg but the local men in blue did not totally agree with our campaign!

Sorry Gothenburg you are saved having my face dotted around your beautiful city but we hope this does not impact your enthusiasm for the Change Lådvin 2010 campaign.

To a better Swedish Wine Culture!

Mark

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