Ads, brand and brandy

I was browsing a Swedish newspaper online the other week when I noticed this banner ad:

Now, what's special with this?

To the left you see the text "Ta bort alkoholmonopolet och se vad som händer!" (Take away the (state) monopoly on alcohol retail sales and see what happens!).

To the right there's a tab with the text "Dra i mig" (Pull me)

Note that behind the tab you see the logo of the the mobile operator 3.

I was a bit puzzled over this, so I pulled the tab in order to "remove the monopoly".

This revealed the text "Här börjar kalaset" (The party starts here). Right, makes some kind of sense I guess...

But was the intended message? No. This ad was actually two banner ads placed side by side.

The left one was from Systembolaget, "the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly" which "exists for one reason only: To minimize alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way, without profit motive". If you clicked throug it the proper way you got to this campaign site. (Which is in Swedish, but a report is available in English)

And the right ad is from 3, obviously. The party advertised is their five year anniversary.

So, the way the combined message came out due to the placement was not the intended one.

For Systembolaget it was a totally loss, I'd say. The message came out the other way around.

For 3 you can discuss the value. In one way the combination enhanced the message. From another viewpoint the sum was perhaps not a politically correct standpoint.

What do you think? Was it a win or loss for 3? Was it perhaps even an intended placement of the ad..?