{{Short description|Swedish campaign against payphone vandalism}} {{good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} [[File:Hemsö fortress museum - old telephone.jpg|thumb|''Stoppa sabbet'' poster next to a payphone in Hemsö fortress]] '''Stoppa sabbet''' ({{lit|Stop the sabotage}}) was a Swedish campaign against payphone vandalism, run by the state telecom agency Televerket, starting in 1980.<ref>Låby, E. (2018:282). ''Vinnande bilder! Teckningstävlingar för barn 1938-2000''. United States: Linköping University Electronic Press.</ref> The campaign especially targeted preadolescent children, including an annual drawing competition for 6th graders and various other outreach efforts and sponsorships. Advertising that was part of the campaign was placed in phone books, telephone booths and comic books. Part of the campaign was the funding of the film ''Stockholmsnatt'' for {{Currency|2 million|SEK|first=y}}.
Televerket claimed that the campaign had some effect on payphone vandalism, though costs associated with vandalism remained high throughout.
==Background==
In 1980 it was reported that vandalism of payphones cost {{Currency|15 million|SEK|first=y}} to repair each year, averaging out to slightly under {{Currency|400|SEK|linked=no}} per payphone across Sweden. Polling showed that the most common vandals were between 15 and 20 years old. Because of this, a campaign was started by Televerket, targeted at preadolescent children in an attempt to reach out before they entered "the worst years". Material associated with the campaign was printed in comic books, advertising posters, and elsewhere.<ref name="eskilstunakuriren-1980">{{Cite news |date=1980-09-18 |title=Televerket trött på kioskvandalerna: Bjuder in skolungdomar till affischtävling |work=Eskilstuna-Kuriren |page=4 |language=sv}}</ref>
==Drawing competition and school outreach== Televerket had been holding drawing competitions since 1977.<ref name="folket-2015">{{Cite news |last=Hellgren |first=Per |date=2015-05-23 |title=Barnens historia i bilder |work=Tidningen Folket |page=20}}</ref> A new drawing competition centered around the campaign was announced in 1980, with sixth-grade classes across Sweden being asked to send in anti-vandalism posters. A winning submission would be selected in each telephone district ({{Lang|sv|teleområde}}), and the class would receive a cash prize. These submissions would then be judged against each other at a national level, where the top submissions would receive larger prizes.<ref name="eskilstunakuriren-1980" /> Top submissions would appear as posters to be put up by payphones and on the front page of phone books.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Olsen |first=Steinar |date=1984-12-05 |title=Skolorna som vann sabbet |work=Aftonbladet |page=15 |language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ståhl |first=Gunnar |date=1985-12-11 |title=Teckningarna som ska stoppa sabbet |work=Aftonbladet |page=16 |language=sv}}</ref>
Prizes and the selection methods varied over time. For the 1980 entries, the cash prize in each district was {{Currency|1000|SEK|linked=no}}; the national submissions were evaluated by a jury, with first place winning {{Currency|5000|SEK|linked=no}}, second {{Currency|3000|SEK|linked=no}}, and the ten runner-ups receiving another {{Currency|1000|SEK|linked=no}} each.<ref name="eskilstunakuriren-1980" /> For the 1989 entries, the winning class was selected by a panel of 400 sixth graders, and the winning prize was a week-long class trip to London.<ref name="idag-1990">{{Cite news |last=Adin |first=Lotta |date=1990-04-29 |title=Så ser en vinnarbild ut |work=iDag |page=14 |language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1989-09-13 |title=Televerket drar igång skoltävling |work=Göteborgs-Posten |page=8 |language=sv}}</ref>
The drawing competitions were part of the wider outreach campaign to schoolchildren, with the drawing competition being preceded by group discussions and material from Televerket such as lists showing the costs of replacing various parts of payphones and booths.<ref name="eskilstunakuriren-1980" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1981-10-19 |title=Ny omgång av 'Stoppa sabbet' |work=Trollhättans Tidning |page=18 |language=sv}}</ref>
==''Stockholmsnatt''== In 1986, Televerket commissioned Staffan Hildebrand to produce a film as part of the campaign, with the agency contributing {{Currency|2 million|SEK|linked=no}} in funding to the project, resulting in the film ''Stockholmsnatt''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1986-09-09 |title=Ungdomsfilm för televerket |work=Dagens Nyheter |page=22 |language=sv}}</ref> The film was intended to be shown as part of a discussion about violence and crime and was not initially commercially distributed, instead being shown at schools and other meeting places and distributed along with guidance for teachers and parents. By mid-1987, Televerket claimed the film had been shown to 380,000 young people.<ref>{{Citation |title=Så länge man talar slåss man inte |date=1987-06-03 |work=Göteborgs-Tidningen |publisher=Televerket |language=sv}}</ref>
==Payphone 'adoption' and sports outreach== By 1985 Televerket had announced the ability for employees in Umeå to 'adopt' a payphone as part of the campaign, including cleaning up spills and littering in the booths as well as monitoring for vandalism and damage.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1985-02-16 |title=Marianne — mamma till två telefonkiosker |work=Aftonbladet |page=25 |language=sv}}</ref> The same year Televerket initiated a program in which local youth sports associations would be given {{Currency|1000|SEK|linked=no}} per year per payphone to perform daily check-ins and report any damage to the agency. By 1988 {{Currency|2 million|SEK|linked=no}} had been spent on the program.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Medin |first=Anders |date=1988-08-25 |title=Tjejerna stoppar sabbet |work=Aftonbladet |language=sv}}</ref> The agency also performed various sports outreach activities, as well as sponsoring several sports events, tournaments and teams, such as {{ill|Sankt Erikscupen|sv}}.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kvärre |first=Stellan |date=1988-08-25 |title=Sponsring ska stoppa sabbet |work=Dagens Nyheter |page=40 |language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1985-06-15 |title=Fotbollsskola är inte bara fotboll |work=Göteborgs-Tidningen |page=27 |language=sv}}</ref>
The sponsorship arrangement was an inspiration for a similar collaboration campaign by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik with hockey organisations to prevent vandalism and graffiti on the public transit system.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bengtsson |first=Claes-G |date=1989-02-15 |title=SL satsar på hockeyn i Stockholm |work=Expressen |page=43 |language=sv}}</ref>
==Ending and effects== The last ''Stoppa sabbet'' drawing competition was held in 1990, with the 1991 competition having the theme ''Telecommunication of the future''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hellström |first=Björn |date=1991-12-06 |title=Dalbyklass segrade i bildtävling |work=Arbetet |page=18 |language=sv}}</ref> Televerket was corporatised as Telia in 1993, which would continue holding drawing competitions until 1995.<ref name="folket-2015" />
The campaign may have had some effect on vandalism of payphones, with it being reported in 1991 that payphone vandalism had decreased while other vandalism crimes had increased.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ahlström |first=Gabriella |date=1991-02-03 |title=Kondomen som ska stoppa sabbet |work=Expressen |page=15 |language=sv}}</ref> Televerket stated to Dagens Nyheter in 1991 that vandalism had continued increasing throughout the 1980s but that the trend had begun to shift, crediting the campaign.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sedvallson |first=Kerstin |date=1991-02-03 |title=Telefonkondom ger klassen pris |work=Dagens Nyheter |page=A8}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Vandalism in Sweden Category:1980s in Sweden Category:Public awareness campaigns Category:Public phones