"We are as modern as any store"

The public sector in Sweden has in recent decades undergone a large change due to market and liberalism impact. This change has meant that marketing communication and its concepts have been adopted by administrative authorities. In this thesis, we used governmentality, social constructivism and an interpretive perspective to examine the staff at the County Administrative Board in Kalmar County and their experiences and opinions of the concepts ”customer” and ”trademark”. The study was designed as a case study with qualitative interviews. The study showed that the experiences can be divided into three categories: those that are positive, those who are worried and see risks as well as those who believe the concepts are just empty words. We also discovered that there was a discrepancy between the management's view of the market influenced communication, which was positive and more liberal, and the rest of the staff which emphasized the traditional bureaucratic rhetoric