Sore head for Russian beer

Only a very brave man takes on the Russian vodka industry, so Vladimir Putin is restricting beer advertising to save the nation’s youth, says Jon Rees

WHEN the envoys sent out by Grand Prince Vladimir of Muscovy to choose a religion for Russia returned, they offered him a choice: Islam or Christianity.  As they extolled the virtues of each Vladimir was undecided, until he was told that Islam forbade its adherents to drink alcohol.

"Then we shall be Christians," said the prince, "for drink is the joy of the Russian and we shall have that pleasure."  The legacy of this robust approach to alcohol is now being tackled by the prince’s latest successor and namesake, president Vladimir Putin.

He has implemented a ban on beer advertising in Russia aimed at reducing the pernicious effects of alcohol on youngsters, on industrial output and even on political apathy, according to its supporters.

The restrictions will make the Russian beer market the most heavily policed in the world: the new law prohibits brewers from advertising their products on television or radio from seven o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock at night.

Even when shown at any other time, the advertisements will not be allowed to show human beings or animals or imply that drinking beer is connected to social, athletic or personal success.

Beer ads will also be banned from the front and back pages of magazines and inside or near sports facilities, schools and cultural institutions.  Advertisers cannot even imply that beer quenches thirst.

Up until now, at least, Russia has been the fastest growing beer market in the world, and, in a sense, one of the youngest.  Back before the fall of communism, beer was not the drink of choice in the Soviet Union.

Alcohol meant one thing: vodka, unless you happened to be holidaying on the Black Sea, in which case it also meant Russian "champagne".  If you couldn’t afford either, God help you, because then you would have to resort to vicious and often lethal home-made vodka or kvass, the treacle-like, lowalcoholic beverage sold from stalls on street corners.

Beer was not a big priority, mainly because there was never much of it around.  What there was, was usually poor quality, but it was always more expensive than vodka, and remains so to this day.

After the fall of communism, the Russian drinks market, like everything else, changed.  Western brewers, led by the likes of Scottish & Newcastle – which owns half of BBH which owns Russia’s biggest beer brand Baltika – Carlsberg, Heineken and Interbrew poured into Russia, investing heavily in new breweries, joint ventures and the accoutrements of western consumerism; advertising and marketing.

Beer was not facing the restrictions on advertising imposed on vodka, which remains Russia’s favourite alcoholic drink by far.  It has been forbidden to advertise vodka on television since 1995, for instance, though print ads are allowed to show people, as long as they are over 35 years of age.

But beer has been promoted almost as a soft-drink in Russia and is virtually distributed as such, with corner kiosks selling dozens of brands 24-hours a day.  The result is that beer has seen double digit growth in Russia over the past few years, according to the Russian Brewers Union.

It is common for teenagers to stroll along with beer cans in their hand, while many of those in their 20s and 30s think nothing of drinking a beer in the street on their way to work in the morning.

Per capita consumption of beer has doubled in volume since 1998, when it was roughly equal with vodka, and reached about 14 gallons last year.  And when one considers how cheap beer is, this is hardly surprising: it sells for less than 60p for a 17oz bottle.

"When you walk around Moscow, it is hard to avoid groups of teenagers guzzling beer in amounts that would set a world record in a Munich beer tent," wrote Vladimir Simonov in an article for the Russian Information Agency in which he discussed the link between beer and voter apathy.

Some breweries suspect the hand of their rivals in the vodka industry in the legislation, all of which is scheduled to take effect by January 1 next year.  After all, enshrining advertising restrictions in law is not a bad way to nobble the opposition.

There are still others who think the whole thing is a gigantic distraction from Russia’s real woes: the antiadvertising legislation was introduced at the same time that Russia’s parliament pushed through a measure to replace social benefits including free transport and health care, replacing them with a cash-payment system.

However, the effect of the latest attempt to restrict Russia’s love affair with drink is not yet clear. Brewers are big players in the Russian television market, accounting for about 10% of the US$1.5 billion total spent each year on television advertising.

Paradoxically, primetime television commercials are the cheapest way to reach consumers. Although airtime is most expensive during this period, the commercials are viewed by the greatest number of people.

But some brewers, like Tinkoff, have already pointed out that its primetime begins after 10pm anyway.  It is good news for other media owners, of course, since brewers will still need to make consumers aware of their products.

It ought to be good news for the market-leading brands, too, since taking on the big players, like Baltika, from a lower awareness base will be even more difficult. 

Ironically, the Russian brewing industry had begun to police itself, introducing a Code of Honour last year promising not to aim their products at children or encourage excessive drinking.  It is too late now.

Some Russian parliamentarians suggested that if the Russian state was really interested in the health of its citizens it would look at moves to restrict the sale of vodka.  That, of course, has been tried before, by the then secretary-general of the communist party, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Despite encountering huge hostility, he went straight to the heart of the matter and ordered distilleries to restrict their output – and look what happened to him.