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LOVE

Swedes tight-fisted in quest for love

Financial crisis or not, Swedes are much less inclined to spend vast sums in their efforts to find a mate in comparison to their European counterparts, a new study reveals.

On average, Swedes spend just over 1,000 kronor ($140) per year attempting to track down that special someone, according to a study by matchmaking website Parship.se.

In contrast, Norwegian singles spend 3,089 kronor, while the Danes fork over the equivalent of 2,159 kronor per year heading out to bars and clubs, or on membership fees for online dating sites.

In fact, out of 13,000 singles surveyed in thirteen different European countries, only those from the Netherlands spent less than the average Swede, with the Dutch shelling out a measly 636 kronor per year.

Europe’s top-spending singles can be found in Ireland, where it’s common for love-seekers to part with nearly 5,500 kronor a year.

The next most generous singles are found in Italy, according to the Parship.se study, where annual outlays in search of a partner average about 4,000 kronor.

Eva Sandstedt from the sociology department at Uppsala University isn’t surprised that Swedes rank near the bottom when it comes to spending money on potential mates.

”Swedes are taught that we shouldn’t devote a lot of money to such things,” she told The Local.

”We can be rather cheap, quite simply.”

Besides being constrained by basic budgetary concerns, says Sandstedt, Swedes are generally not accustomed to treating each other when out on a date.

”Men in Sweden don’t cover the costs of a date like they do in southern Europe,” she said.

Sandstedt believes part of the explanation can be found in Sweden’s comparatively long tradition of gender equity.

”We’ve had a much more active women’s movement here,” she explained.

”Women in Sweden are expected to stand on their own two feet and not to let others pay for them.”

In fact, Sandstedt believes that gestures of chivalry and attempts by men to shower gifts on the object of their affection may actually backfire.

”I think Swedish women would be quite surprised and actually somewhat suspicious,” she said.

”It’s very un-Swedish.”

Moreover, adds Sandstedt, Swedes are not the most outgoing people and thus many may find that going to a bar and spending hundreds of kronor on drinks in hopes of meeting that special someone is simply an exercise in futility.

”In general, people don’t talk to people they don’t know in Sweden,” she said.

”Thus many may decide not to go out by themselves because they don’t want to risk spending the evening alone…it can be very hard to meet someone.”

HEALTH

IN PICTURES: 7 of the French government’s sexiest public health adverts

An advertising campaign aimed at convincing young people to get the Covid vaccine has attracted international attention, but it’s not the first time that French authorities have sexed up their public health messaging.

IN PICTURES: 7 of the French government's sexiest public health adverts
Image: AIDES.

It’s an international cliché that France is the land of l’amour – or at least the land of le sexe – and that reputation does seem to be justified, given how often French public health bodies have turned to sex in an attempt to get their message across.

From the suggestive to the downright scandalous, here are seven examples of health campaigns which relied on that oh so French fondness for romance.

Get vaccinated, get laid

The Covid campaign in question was created by regional health authorities in the southern Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur region.

The poster which has got people hot under the collar features two very attractive and very French-looking people kissing, seemingly in the back of a cab after a night on the town. “Yes, the vaccine can have desirable effects,” it says.

The campaign has proved so popular that it will soon be expanded.

Promoting road safety

Earlier this year, the French Road Safety Delegation released a video ahead of Valentine’s Day, which showed a couple sharing an intimate moment in the bedroom.

The full 30-second video featured the slogan, “Life is better than one last drink for the road”.

Another image of two people kissing, seemingly without clothes, included the line, “Life, love. On the road, don’t forget what truly matters.”

Fight against HIV/AIDS

While the link between road safety and sex isn’t immediately obvious, less surprising are the references to intimacy in the health ministry’s HIV awareness campaign from 2016.

Each of the different posters shows two men embracing. Straplines include, “With a lover, with a friend, with a stranger. Situations vary, and so do the protective measures.”

The posters shocked conservative sensibilities, and several right-wing mayors asked for them to be taken down in their towns. 

HIV awareness campaign

Just a few days after the controversy over the ministry’s posters ignited, the non-profit AIDES launched its own campaign, and it didn’t hold back.

The posters showed scuba instructors, piano teachers and parachutists, all of them naked alongside their students. The slogan: “People undergoing treatment for HIV have a lot of things to pass onto us. But the AIDS virus isn’t one.”

“Even if we’ve been spreading this information since 2008, we realise that a lot of people don’t know that antiviral treatments prevent spreading,” head of AIDES Aurélien Beaucamp told France Info.

“People are still afraid of those who are HIV-positive.” 

Government-mandated pornography

It’s common for sexualised advertising campaigns to be labelled pornographic by critics, but in 1998, the French government went a step further and created actual pornography.

READ ALSO Language of love – 15 of the best romantic French phrases

The health ministry commissioned TV station Canal Plus to create five short erotic films to encourage the use of condoms and prevent the spread of HIV. The campaign featured up-and-coming directors such as Cedric Klapisch and Gaspar Noé.

“The only possible way to look at, to get people to protect themselves, is to show, show everything, show simply and without creating an obsession of the sexual act and the act of wearing a condom,” Klapisch said, according to an Associated Press story published at the time. 

You didn’t really think we’d include images of this one, did you? (OK, here’s a link for those who are curious).

A controversial anti-smoking campaign

https://twitter.com/MarketainmentSE/status/212863393143586817

It’s time to forget what we said about romance, because there is nothing romantic about this 2010 campaign from the Droits des Non-Fumeurs (Non-smokers’ rights) association and the BDDP & Fils communications agency.

The campaign featured several images of young people with a cigarette in their mouths, looking up at an adult man who rested his hand on their heads. The cigarette appeared to be coming out of the man’s trousers.

The slogan said, “Smoking means being a slave to tobacco”. The association said the sexual imagery was meant to get the attention of young people who were desensitised to traditional anti-smoking messages, but the posters caused outrage, with members of the government publicly criticising the choice of imagery.

Celebrating LGBTQ+ love

On the other end of the spectrum is this very romantic video from the national health agency Santé Publique France. It was released on May 17th 2021, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and was part of a campaign against anti-LGBT discrimination and violence. It is set to Jean-Claude Pascal’s Nous les amoureux

Showing a diverse range of couples kissing, holding hands, and healing each other’s wounds, the video ends on the word play: “In the face of intolerance, it’s up to us to make the difference.”

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