from the New York Times: Beer in Russia

[Michael Denner]

As Russia Discovers Beer, Deputies Try to End the Binge 

August 6, 2004 
 By STEVEN LEE MYERS 

MOSCOW, Aug. 5 - The land of vodka is awash in beer, in 
cafes, restaurants and bars, naturally, but also in the 
subway, on the sidewalk, in parks and virtually any other 
public place. At any time of the day Russians young and old 
- whether slacking students standing in gaggles or smartly 
dressed businessmen (or women) striding to and from work - 
are apt to appear in public, bottle in hand. 

Now Russia's lawmakers are trying to slow the tap. The 
lower house of Parliament unanimously approved a bill on 
Thursday that would significantly restrict the advertising 
and marketing of beer, a drink that all of a sudden is 
being blamed for much of what ails Russia, from youthful 
alcoholism to hooliganism and even political apathy. 

The law, if approved by the Federation Council and signed 
by President Vladimir V. Putin, would ban all 
advertisements for beer on television and radio from 7 a.m. 
to 10 p.m., starting Jan. 1. It would also restrict the 
content of those shown overnight to exclude images of 
people and animals and prohibit, among other things, 
slogans creating the "illusion that drinking beer is 
important for the achievement of social or other success." 

The restrictions would also extend to advertisements 
within 100 yards of hospitals, schools, sporting sites and 
cultural institutions. It would not, evidently, apply to 
the Parliament, which is currently surrounded by billboards 
for a beer called Zolotaya Bochka, or Golden Barrel, 
showing a chesty Olympic athlete beneath the slogan "Your 
Victory, Our Award." 

"It is a first step toward civilizing our advertising," 
Lyubov K. Sliska, the Parliament's first deputy speaker and 
a sponsor of the law, said in an interview after the vote. 

Aleksei V. Krivoshapko, an analyst at the United Financial 
Group in Moscow, said that the legislation, if enacted, 
would be the most restrictive in Europe. But the effect of 
the restrictions - especially on beer consumption - are far 
from clear. Opponents said the bill could hurt professional 
sports and television, since roughly 10 percent of the 
total of $1.5 billion a year spent on television 
commercials comes from breweries. 

How beer became the scourge of Russia's Parliament is a 
matter of debate, especially since the legislation had 
languished for at least two years before being revived this 
summer. 

Some detect the hidden hand of vodka distilleries fearful 
of beer's relentless growth, or that of the Russian 
Orthodox Church and other conservative voices that blame 
the ubiquity of beer advertising for the prevalence of 
under-age drinking. Others said the Parliament needed a 
populist distraction from an unpopular measure to replace 
social benefits - including free transport and health care 
- with cash payments, a proposal the Parliament also 
approved on Thursday in a third and final vote. 

"It is just a purely emotional reaction by populist 
deputies," Mr. Krivoshapko said in a telephone interview. 
"If they were really interested in the health of the 
nation, they would find a way to restrict vodka." 

There is no question, though, that demand for beer, which 
was in scarce supply in Soviet times, has surged. Per 
capita consumption of beer has doubled by volume since 
1998, when it was more or less equal to vodka and other 
hard liquors, reaching 52.5 liters last year, or about 14 
gallons, according to industry figures cited by Mr. 
Krivoshapko. 

For many Russians, beer is seen as little more than a soft 
drink, which is why it is not uncommon for people to drink 
beer in the morning and why beer was not even included when 
restrictions on alcohol advertising, including a ban on 
vodka commercials on television, were first adopted in 
1995. 

"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," Vladimir Simonov wrote in a 
essay for the official Russian Information Agency, in which 
he raised the link between beer and voter apathy. 

To brewers, the bill sidesteps the problems associated with 
drinking by censoring free speech in advertising instead. 
"It is a stupid and ridiculous law," said Oleg Tinkov, the 
founder of the Tinkoff Private Brewery, whose commercials 
have been among the raciest on television. 

He said a better solution would be to raise taxes on beer, 
which typically sells for less than a dollar for a 
half-liter (or nearly 17-ounce) bottle, to raise the 
drinking age to 21, from 18, and to ban public drinking. 
The latter proposal has the endorsement of Vladimir V. 
Zhirinovksy, the nationalist leader of the Liberal 
Democratic Party, who railed against it in an interview on 
Ekho Moskvy radio last Friday, blaming television 
commercials. 

"Drinking beer in public should be considered bad manners 
and vulgarity," said Mr. Zhirinovsky, who franchised the 
rights to produce a line of vodka in his name. 

The director of the Union of Russian Brewers, Vyacheslav I. 
Mamontov, said that a more reasonable approach would be for 
the brewers to police themselves. Last year, the union's 
members adopted a "Code of Honor" promising not to take aim 
at children or encourage excessive drinking. 

Ms. Sliska, who belongs to the majority United Russia 
party, emphasized that the legislation was not inspired by 
a teetotaling zeal, but rather by a concern about the 
pernicious influence of advertising, particular on the 
young. 

"United Russia loves to drink,'' she said, "but we are for 
a healthy generation." 

Erin E. Arvedlund contributed reporting for this article. 


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/06/international/europe/06beer.html?ex=1092811840&ei=1&en=71fa10a7a6308298