During World War II, Sweden was officially neutral, but life at home was anything but untouched by the conflict. A new study from Stockholm University shows that the war years fundamentally changed Swedish thinking about sexual health, helping to transform the condom from a protective choice among many to a dominant protection against venereal diseases. The result was a long-term transformation of sexual health practices in Sweden.
Before the war, there was a wide range of products to prevent pregnancy and infection. What we see during World War II is a narrowing of that market, where condoms gradually came to be framed as the more effective and responsible choice.”
Anna Inez Bergman, PhD in Economic History and Lecturer, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University
In an article published in Business & Society (Cambridge University Press), Anna Inez Bergman examines how wartime public health campaigns and commercial marketing worked together to reshape the market for protective products.
Venereal diseases a wartime problem beyond the battlefield
During the war, venereal diseases were a growing concern throughout Europe, and Sweden was no exception. Between 1939 and 1945, more than a million Swedes were conscripted into military service. This large-scale mobilization meant that people moved to new places, formed new relationships, and faced new risks of infection.
Although Sweden did not distribute free condoms to soldiers—unlike some of the nations directly involved in the war—the government launched extensive public health campaigns encouraging protective practices. These efforts were part of a broader expansion of wartime information and propaganda aimed at guiding civilian behavior during “readiness years” (beredskapsåren). “The state relied heavily on information as a tool,” explains Bergman. “Public health campaigns became a way of guiding sexual behavior without direct coercion.”
Public health meeting advertisement
Bergman’s study draws on wartime health campaigns and condom advertisements to show how government messages and commercial interests are increasingly aligned. Condom marketers strategically tailored their advertising to echo official concerns about infection control to increase sales.
The ads emphasized responsibility, protection, and national health, mirroring the language of public health authorities. This alignment helped recast condoms as practical medical tools rather than morally suspect products.
“Businesses quickly adapted and benefited from public health campaigns,” says Bergman. “Aligning themselves with government messages, retailers presented condoms as essential tools for both personal and public health.”
The result was a powerful convergence of state-driven social engineering and market-driven consumer engineering. Together, they helped normalize condom use and elevate it above alternatives such as chemical spermicides, douches and diaphragms.
A neutral country, a constant change
One of the most striking findings of the study is what happened after the war. In countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, public authorities largely returned to stricter ethical frameworks once the conflict ended. Sweden, however, followed a different path.
“Swedish authorities continued to prioritize infection control in the immediate post-war years,” notes Bergman. “There was no sudden return to pre-war moral standards.”
This continuity meant that condoms retained their newfound legitimacy, both in public discourse and in the consumer market. What began as a wartime response to rising infection rates became a long-term transformation of sexual health practices in Sweden.
Laying the foundations for the welfare state
Beyond the story of condoms, the article speaks to a larger story about governance and communication. During World War II, Sweden greatly expanded its use of public information campaigns to manage everything from food consumption to personal behavior. In previous research, it has been argued that these wartime efforts helped shape the more interventionist welfare states that emerged after 1945.
Bergman’s research adds sexual health to this picture, showing how wartime propaganda and advertising laid the foundations for enduring relationships between public health policy and market strategies.
“Wartime conditions fostered a more permissive attitude toward condom use that extended into the postwar years,” says Bergman. “Driven by both necessity and opportunity, these changes helped lay the foundations for wider cultural change, including the more open public discourse on sexuality that gained momentum in Sweden in the 1960s.”
Tracing how condoms came to dominate during World War II, Bergman’s study reveals how moments of crisis can permanently reshape everyday practices—and how the lines between state intervention and consumer markets can blur in the process.
Facts
In the study, Bergman looked at public health campaigns and commercial advertisements for condoms in newspapers and pamphlets. According to Bergman, these advertisements are valuable sources for exploring cultural, rhetorical, and ideological dimensions used to shape attitudes toward condoms and contraceptive use. In total, Bergman has studied sixty-four brochures from four major Swedish condom retailers, as well as newspaper advertisements, mainly in the daily press but also in the military press, from 1939 to 1950.
