#4 - JRL 7304
RIA Novosti
August 27, 2003
COMMENTARY: CALLING TIME ON VODKA?
Marina Shakina, RIA Novosti political commentator
The good news is the per capita consumption of hard liquor in Russia in 2002 decreased for the first time in the last five years. In 2002, per capita consumption was 19.7 litres of vodka, compared with 20.7 litres in 2001. However, the consumption of beer and vine has grown. The average Russian family also spends less on hard liquor today. For example, in 2001, the share of spending on alcohol in a family budget was 9.7 percent, while in 2002 it fell to 8.8 percent.
Sociologists regard this as a positive trend and explain it by the overall improvement of living standards and the Russian population's higher incomes. People feel less compelled to "alleviate stress" through an alcoholic stupor, and tend to consider alcohol as a pleasant aspect of social life. In fact, their demands with regard to quality of their preferred drink and refined standards of social drinking are getting higher.
If the trend is going to continue in the near future, then we might witness a genuine revolution in Russians' drinking habits. After all, until recently, the high level of vodka consumption in Russia had been inevitably attributed to the harsh climate. Of course, it would be great to sip a glass of nice wine somewhere on a beach in the Mediterranean, hiding from baking sun under the tent of a cosy restaurant. However, in a country, where the rather cool summer lasts two months at the most, neither beer, nor wine will warm you up.
It seems that the Russian beer industry has finally received a moral justification of its fantastic growth in the last five years. Russian brewers are expanding their business not only for the sake of higher profits. Apparently, they have a social goal as well. Or so they claim. Their aim is nothing other than to fight vodka-induced alcoholism, which hasled the country to the brink of extinction.
Interestingly, beer does not fall into the official category of alcoholic beverages in Russia. Consequently, the ban on advertising of alcoholic beverages, such as vodka and wine, does not apply to beer. It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that every third commercial on Russian TV promotes a beer brand.
Doctors do not deny that the stronger the drink, the faster its consumers develop the symptoms of alcoholism. Therefore, beer fans acquire alcohol dependency later than vodka drinkers. Nevertheless, Russian Deputy Health Minister and the country's chief medical officer Gennady Onishchenko does not believe in the noble intentions of Russian brewers. He is the most prominent opponent of beer advertising in Russia. According to Mr. Onishchenko, beer and vodka-induced alcoholism are the same evil. Moreover, he insists that beer is not replacing vodka, but complementing it, instead.
The doctor is particularly angry and concerned about the fact that Russian brewers have achieved higher sales by targeting young people. In recent years, the average age of "first-time drinkers" in Russia has fallen by two years and reached 16. At the same time, 100 new specialised addiction-treatment clinics for teenagers have been built. The most notable expansion of the market has been achieved by manufacturers of Klinskoye beer, who purposely advertised their brand as a beer for young people.
Last year's Klinskoye advertising campaign caused a real scandal. The commercials were not only condemned by doctors, but also by fellow brewers from the Association of Russian Breweries. The manufacturers of Klinskoye beer initially ignored the public outcry, attributing it to competitors' envy and vodka lobbyists' scheming. However, after a certain time they had to heed the protests when government officials and deputies started talking about giving beer an alcoholic beverage status. Had this happened, the entire beer industry would have lost its tax breaks, incurred multi-million losses and lost the right to advertise its beverages.
Moreover, the brewers voluntarily imposed serious restrictions on their own business. They adopted ethical standards for the industry, giving up the idea of using animals and teenagers or showing the process of beer drinking in their ads, for example. The brewers offered to promote sports in Russia and promised to advertise a healthy way of life.
Vodka producers are not scared by official statistical data. They really do have nothing to fear - their sales are quickly increasing as well, which only confirms Mr. Onishchenko's opinion that beer and vodka in Russia are not "competitors," but rather "partners." Even popular folklore also supports Mr. Onishchenko's case. One modern popular proverb says, "Drinking beer without vodka is a waste of money." There is only one consolation - the production of good-quality authentic vodka is on the rise, and the segment of cheap and low-quality alcohol is shrinking.
However, toxicologists do not see any positive trend. There are statistical data that show the opposite process. For example, the average life expectancy for a Russian man is 59 years. Then there is the fact that in the first half of 2003 the number of deaths related to alcohol poisoning went up by 3.2 percent. The overall hard liquor consumption in the country might have decreased, but it is no secret that in the poorest regions of Russia the poorest sections of the population consume not only home-made alcohol or counterfeit hard drinks made at underground facilities in the Northern Caucasus, but also surrogates made under the guise of perfumes. Extremely cheap alcohol-based liquids (lotions, cologne, etc.) that cost about 12 rubles (less than half-a-dollar) are not even included in the statistics.
Overall, there is little cause for celebration. Each year, Russians still spend almost 50 percent more on alcoholic beverages than citizens of other countries with developing economies -- $105 to $73. However, the fact that vodka consumption in Russia is decreasing in line with a rise in living standards certainly gives us some hope. Probably, the best cure for alcoholism in the country is economic growth.
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