Sweden’s biggest beer brand is offering a remedy for the seasonal depression that can accompany these cold winter months: a cooler that contains light from this year’s summer solstice. Norrlands Ljus used data collected on June 20, the longest day of the year, in a place called Ljusdal, which translates to “Valley of Light,” to create the perfect therapy lamp.
“Whenever you open the fridge and reach for a beer, you get a much-needed dose of daylight in the process,” said Charlotte Liljewall, marketing manager of Norrlands Ljus, in a statement.
The brand is preparing for the darkness of the winter solstice on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year. Stockholm will only see six hours of daylight, while the northernmost parts of Sweden will spend more than 24 hours in darkness.
Liljewall said the brand was motivated to create this lamp after considering the effect of stay-at-home orders in a country that already does not see enough sunlight. The cooler contains a light temperature of 6,000 kelvin, which roughly matches the daylight on a blue sky summer’s day, she explained.
“We have been tinkering a lot with getting the brightness and light temperature just right without making the beer fridge too heavy or too hard to operate,” she said.
Liljewal hopes that the combination of sunlight and a cold beer will lift the spirits of consumers, most of whom are more than ready for 2020 to end.
“Hopefully this beer cooler can put a smile on people’s faces and illustrate that we are in fact heading towards brighter days,” she added. “In the meantime, I think we can all agree that we could all use a beer and some sunshine after the year we’ve had.”
Emmy is an Adweek contributor who is completing her journalism degree at The College of New Jersey with minors in Spanish and broadcast journalism.
https://www.adweek.com/media/swedish-beer-cooler-sunshine-lamp/