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Russia: The State Duma passed a bill in its second reading on Saturday, July 31, placing severe restrictions on beer ads that could cost media outlets millions of dollars in revenue. The draft law bans the broadcasting of beer commercials on television and radio between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. and prohibits advertisers from maintaining that beer is "crucial in achieving success in sports and personal life," the Moscow Times quoted on August 2.

In a rare display of solidarity, 432 out of 450 deputies voted in favour of the bill with only one abstention. The bill, due to have its final reading on Thursday, must then be approved by the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin before becoming law. It has been under consideration by the Duma for more than two years.

Its passage has sparked an outcry from brewers and advertisers.

Beer commercials are estimated to account for roughly one-tenth of the television ad market, which amounted to more than $720 million in the first half of 2004, or 36 percent more than in the same period last year, according to figures released by the Association of Communications Agencies of Russia Thursday.

In addition to time restrictions, the draft law prohibits beer advertisers from using images of "people or animals" and requires them to devote at least 10 percent of ad space to health warnings. Beer advertisements would also be banned from the front and back pages of magazines and inside sports facilities and cultural institutions. "Attractive, obsessive and aggressive beer advertising makes it extremely attractive for consumption," Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the Duma's Security Committee, told parliament on Saturday. He added that persistent beer advertising was behind increased consumption in recent years, particularly by teenagers. Vasilyev was supported by many of his colleagues, some of whom outdid themselves in their fervor to limit beer ads.

Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky proposed completely banning any advertising of the drink, as well as its public consumption. His amendments were rejected.

"It is necessary to ban public consumption of beer," Zhirinovsky told Ekho Moskvy radio on Friday. "Let those that want beer go to pubs and drink this garbage there. The habit of drinking it on the street has been forced on us by commercials, and therefore youngsters think it is OK." The new bill also received the full support of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose spokesman, Vsevolod Chaplin, accused the media of creating a "beer subculture" that "brainwashes the young."

"Our Western guests have told me many times that in their countries such a volume of beer advertising specially targeted at the young ... would be impossible," he told Interfax. Not surprisingly, advertisers and brewers begged to differ on the draft bill's merits. "This is barbarity, wild and irresponsible petty tyranny. This is nothing but cheap populism," Vladimir Yevstafyev, president of the 130-member Association of Communications Agencies, said in an interview Sunday. "Anyone knowledgeable [about the industry] would never have written something so incomprehensible."

Yevstafyev said that banning beer ads in stadiums was problematic: would broadcasting foreign matches with prominent outdoor beer ads violate the law? Furthermore, he said, a ban could hurt television stations and many Russian sports teams.

The head of the Russian Brewers' Union, Vyacheslav Mamontov, questioned the motives for pushing through the bill. "It looks like the Duma had nothing else to do and wanted to pass something that would appeal to voters," he said on Sunday, noting that it coincided with the highly unpopular replacement of social benefits with monetary compensation. Mamontov also pointed out to several inconsistencies within the bill. For instance, the draft law does not explain what constitutes an image of a person or an animal. "Does a man's voice constitute an 'image of a person?' If so, how can radio commercials be possible at all?" he said. "A lot of commercials are funny and entertaining and can provoke nothing but a smile. I doubt that a lot of people have a negative attitude toward those ads."

However Yevstafyev conceded that "brewers and media types" bear at least some responsibility for the restrictive new bill, as they have been behind an especially aggressive marketing campaign. "You have to be smarter and more careful when deciding how to place ads," Yevstafyev said.

Beer commercials -- often serialized and featuring amiable characters in comic situations -- have flooded the airwaves in recent years, as the booming beer industry has been one of the market's top performers.

It is still too early to say how the bill, if signed into law, would affect the market, Yevstafyev said. But he predicted that brewers would not cut their advertising budgets but instead look for alternatives to television. Television stations, however, could lose "hundreds of millions of dollars" in revenue, he said, which could negatively affect the quality of programming.

Both Yevstafyev and Mamontov questioned whether governmental decrees were effective in successfully regulating the advertising market. "A talented man will always find a way around these restrictions," Yevstafyev said.

For example, when the government introduced a ban on advertising hard liquor, advertising gurus switched to promoting different products -- such as mineral water or chocolates -- using the same designs as famous vodka brands. "The introduction of restrictive measures is meaningless. What is needed is self-regulation inside the business community," Mamontov said. Last week, before passage of the bill, the country's leading brewers and advertisers pledged not to target minors nor to "draw parallels between beer consumption and increasing a person's social status, physical and mental development."


04 August, 2004