What will entail the prohibition of alcohol advertising in print media?

The bill, which changes part No. 2, article No. 21, will enter into force on January 1, 2013. Deputies of the State Duma Igor Rudensky and Sergey Zheleznyak spoke about a complete ban on advertising alcoholic beverages of any kind in the media. What threatens such a ban to the media and alcohol producers?

The new edition of the Law "On Advertising" will enter into force on July 23, 2012. Advertising of any alcoholic beverages will be prohibited. This, according to Rudensky, will help prevent mass alcoholization of the population. But since almost all manufacturers of alcoholic beverages paid in advance for advertising, the transitional period for stopping the promotion of alcoholic beverages will last until January 1, 2013.

After the advertising ceases completely, alcohol producers will be able to save the huge money they paid to the media for promoting their brand of alcohol.

At the same time, well-known brands of alcoholic beverages will be sold in the same volumes. Lack of advertising will not reduce sales. High-quality alcohol products have formed a circle of consumers for whom advertising is not required for the purchase of a particular brand of drink.

Alcoholic products of unknown brands will be sold in the same volume. Since the cost of alcohol in the absence of a brand is always much lower. This will attract a certain circle of buyers who do not care which brand they will use, if only the price is acceptable.

Only media outlets whose budget was based on the promotion of alcohol products will suffer from the prohibition of advertising. According to preliminary estimates by specialists, the advertising market will lose a profit of several billion rubles.

Some sites exist solely on advertising revenue from alcohol products. With a complete ban on the promotion of alcohol, they simply burst like soap bubbles, or will be forced to register outside the Russian Federation and continue to do what they did before amending the law "On Advertising".

Most media executives believe that they will not drink less from the lack of advertising of alcoholic beverages. Advertising is, first of all, brand promotion, competition, and not the involvement of new consumers. However, narcologists are of a completely different opinion. Alcoholism in Russia is much younger. In particular, the abuse of beer has exceeded all reasonable limits. The lack of advertising will significantly reduce the number of new alcoholics among young people. In addition, the advertising of alcoholic beverages negatively affects the psyche of people who previously abused alcohol, who have found strength and defeated addiction, and there are several million of them in the country.