The Gothenburg-based brewery Poppels promoted its beer alongside various food dishes on social media in 2022. The Consumer Ombudsman (KO) claimed that the posts violated the image rule in the Alcohol Act and banned the brewery from using the images.
Poppels appealed the case to the Patent and Market Court, which in 2024 found KO was right on seven of eight points; both parties then appealed.
“Strictly defined”
The Patent and Market Court of Appeal now follows the Patent and Market Court's line but further tightens the ruling. An image that the previous instance chose not to ban is considered to be in violation of the image rule.
"You're changing their assessment that it's reasonable to display a barrel-aged beer on a beer keg," says Mattias Grundström, the alcohol industry's own auditor of how companies market themselves.
The image rule means that images used to market alcoholic beverages may only contain the product and the raw materials included in it.
Difficult for businesses
Sweden's breweries said in a brief comment to TT that they were disappointed with the verdict.
"This makes any type of communication that does not focus solely on alcohol and alcohol consumption impossible."
Mattias Grundström adds:
"This makes it extremely difficult for Swedish companies to grow abroad. There is an extreme imbalance between their rules and ours."
This is what the alcohol law says:
When marketing alcoholic beverages or alcoholic beverage-like preparations to consumers through commercial advertisements, images may only include representations of
1. the goods or raw materials included in the goods,
2. single packages, or
3. a trademark or a comparable sign.
Source: Alcohol Act
