Shekarabi Archives • SwedeInternational

22 Nov. – moderation in advertising

“An open road to the gold!” “Lightning fast payments!”

too risky to see
pic: play.diabetes.org.uk

According to Swedish law, gambling advertisements must be on the temperate side, nothing too crazy: They must be in moderation (vara måttfull). In December of last year, the Swedish Consumer Agency’s ombudsman sued Elec Games, the owners of Ninja Casino, for breaking the law – for not being moderate in their advertisements.

As evidence in their lawsuit, KO (Consumer Ombudsman) named Ninja’s slogans such as “Play now!” “Your win at your bank in five minutes” and “250 games and chances for miljons of kronor are only a click away. What are you waiting for?” as being much too obtrusive. A pop-up ad was deemed particularly egregious. Everyone recognized that one person’s egregious could be another person’s yawn, so the court’s decision was looked forward to (SvD.se/case).

Today, the Patent and Market Court of Appeal (patent- och marknadsdomstolen) agreed with the plaintiff and ruled that Ninja Casino’s advertisements were over the line. 20 advertising phrases that Ninja used, as well as the pop-up ad, did not meet the requirement for moderation. Furthermore, any future slogans “with the same meaning” will also be considered in breach of the law. Should Elec games ignore the judgement, a half million kronor fine awaits them (SvD.se/gambling).

Gunnar Wikström, who worked the case for the Consumer Agency, said that the verdict was important to establish how the word “moderation” should be interpreted. “It’s a pretty general concept, and therefore this case could provide answers. It’s been said in the preparatory legislative work that it was up to the court to draw that line, and that’s what the court has done now. “

“The court has judged that there is a connection between gambling advertisements and gambling disorders, and has taken into special account the effect that advertising has on persons who have, or who are danger of developing, a gambling disorder” wrote Chief Judge Alexander ramsay in a statement (DN.se/gambling).

Ardalan Shekarabi, the Minister for Social Security, was understandably glad. Shekarabi brought the responsibility for the gambling issue with him from his previous job as Minister for Public Administration because it bothered him so much (see this post). “This is a huge victory for everyone who has been engaged in the fight against aggressive gambling ads” he said. “Now no gambling company can say that the law is unclear.”

1 Oct. – the government reshuffles

Two new ministers were appointed in the Löfven government today: one oldie and one newbie. Ardelan Shekarabi takes over as Minister for Social Security (better known here as socialförsäkringsminister) from his previous post as minister of public administration, and a new name for many of us, Lena Micko, has been given Shekarabi’s old job.

Shekarabi made headlines recently with a facebook post saying that Sweden’s migration policy needed to be sharpened up, by quite a bit (see this post). Many observers wondered if it was a play for the position of party leader in the near future. Maybe it paid off, or, he’s being punished for his attention seeking: The Minister for Social Security is a much (much) more visible post, responsible for, oh, little things like health care, elder care, taking care of disabled people and children, and the general health and welfare of society.

Shekarabi has previously publicly shook his fist at the practices of and advertisements for the gambling industry in Sweden, which fall under the purview of the social security department. Perhaps he was then already preparing for this position. He’s not saying. But his facebook post, his efforts to reign in gambling that garnered a lot of air time, and of course his eye-catching bow ties all lead to visibility. His new position will only increase it.

The other new appointment is Lena Micko who will take over as Minister for Public Administration – a position which is almost as exciting as it sounds. Micko comes lately from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting, SKL) where she was board member and second vice chair. More importantly, she’s a long term, card carrying social democratic party member.

According to Göran Eriksson at SvD, Micko has long experience of working at the municipal level, and knows how they work and what they want. She is supposed to be of the practical sort, and of the more right-leaning bent – similar to the Liberal and Center parties that were actually once part of the right-leaning alliance but who now are supporting cast members in the Löfven government. Micko and the Center and Liberal parties might get along like a house on fire. There’s going to be an even more unhappy left flank if so, but though they’ve expressed some dismay over a few things, they haven’t caused any real trouble for the rest of the social democratic party.

Micko is sure to fight for more money to the municipalities via the national cost equalisation system (kostnadsutjämningssystemet), discussed in this blog. Another change that might soon come from her appointment is less directed government grants to municipalities. Directed grants more often need to be applied for and are supposed to be used for specific purposes. They also require more administration, read: time and money. If grants are more general they’re easier and can be used how the municipalities see fit. It could be good to remember that directed grants were at one time part of the general grant – they were changed to directed grants for a reason. It might be a good idea to find out why (and fix it) before switching back.

In all, these appointments could be exciting. Or at least interesting. And blog food. There will be plays to the political right and plays to the political left. So far, it must be said that the Social Democratic party has handled the differences without breaking apart in public. It’s impressive, or scary internal control.

19 sep. – Shekarabi’s immigration play on fb

civilminister Ardalan Shekarabi
pic: gp.se

Ardalan Shekarabi might post as “a social democrat” on facebook, but he’s actually Minister for Public Administration (civilminister), not some random self-identified voter on the internet. Therefore it’s no featherweight suggestion he makes there that Sweden needs “a sustainable immigration policy and to keep the number of new immigrants low” ().

His facebook post reflects the split in the Social Democratic party regarding immigration, with several prominent persons expressing themselves rather in favor of a more restrictive immigration. As SvD notes, the youth wing of the party, SSU, came out in favour of an EU-wide immigration policy, stating that Sweden can’t be the only country taking asylum responsibility (). The thinktank Tiden has asked prominent Social Democrat, and Norrköping City Council member, Lars Stjernkvist, to formulate a future immigration policy in which the dreaded word “volume” is discussed ().

Shekarabi writes that “extreme segregation” is a threat to social cohesion, and that he would like to create “an inclusive national identity.”

This comes at almost the same time as the government has decreed (today) that new immigrants who decide for themselves that they want to live in a “socially vulnerable area” – IOW an area that is populated largely with immigrants who are low on the socioeconomic scale – will lose their daily social allowances (dagsersättning) from the government ().

The Liberal party immigration spokesperson Fredrik Malm remarked that there are problems of extremely crowded living and segregation associated with these areas: School children, for example, can’t concentrate on their studies when they live in crowded conditions. If new immigrants live in state-run institutions, it is easier to reach them and provide social services, it is argued ().

However, no one has suggested actually revoking the Law of Own Accommodation (EBO-lagen – lagen om eget boende), that was begun in 1995 and allowed new immigrants to establish themselves wherever in the country they wanted. Quite naturally, this turned out to be where they found others from their country, and where they didn’t feel so alone. This has turned out to be city suburbs, and the rest is segregation history. In many respects, these areas are economic grey areas anyway, and it is unsure whether the threat of taking away allowances is going to have any effect.

Meanwhile, Shekarabi’s post may only be his way of jockeying for a better position in the race to succeed Löfven as party leader. As Rahm Emanuel said to Obama in the beginning of Obama’s first term as president, at the height of the 2008 economic crisis, “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste” (nyti.ms/NYTimesBiggestCrisis).