TV and Mass Media:
Constructing a New Russian Consumer
*

Alexei Levinson

Russian Centre for Public Opinion and Market Research (VTsIOM)

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Introduction

The most widely known phenomenon with Soviet/Russian media was 'Glasnost'. This was probably the first experience of this press in destruction of the old consumer (of information, in this case) and the construction of the new one.

 The second case came when presidential elections campaign started in 1996 and big money was spent on media and advertising from Yeltsin's side. Although the international inspectors complained about the monopolization of media by Yeltsin's campaign, its final victory over the Soviet-style opposition was the first real success of Russian media in constructing the new Russian and destroying the old Soviet information consumer.

 Media as a means of destruction of the Old Consumer

 In the eyes of the majority of Russian citizens, the Russian market for consumer goods is "overwhelmed by imported products." For many of them, especially the older generation, this flood of foreign consumer goods combined with the sharp decline in Russia's arms production is experienced as a symbol of the country's "defeat in the Third World War." They have a similar reaction to the invasion of television by commercials the now abundant American movies.

However, the less dependent on the state the person is, the less relevant for him is the symbolic opposition of domestic vs. imported goods.

The intrusion of commercials and ads into the media has become extensive. Moscow is far ahead of other cities in the number of the bill boards on the streets and in the underground. While 58% of the Muscovites say, they have nothing against this phenomenon, 12% actively welcome them and 24% rejected them. The 12% -24% ratio is reversed among the younger population.

In the country as a whole, the younger part of the population seems to be two times more interested in the new commercial advertising than their older counterparts. Indeed. at least 50% of the Russians below the age of 40 welcome advertisements for new consumer goods in mass media.

Constructing a new consumer: New Russians

If one pole is represented by the older people who feel hurt by the recent changes , the other pole is represented by the younger generation who more often than not feel they have benefited from the transformation of the Soviet system into a more market-oriented economy. What makes this case especially unusual is that it is the young, not the people of age, who have accumulated most of the wealth now. The estimates based on the polls and surveys suggest that no less than 5% and no more than 10% of the adult Russian population belong to this new category of welathy people, but the majority of them are well below 40.

These Russian young people whose real disposable income increased up to 100 times during last four years, have arrived at their new status without the aid of the preceding generations. Indeed, this new status of a person of wealth has been absent in Russian society for at least three generations. So the function of socialization of the adults into a new status position cannot be performed by means of interpersonal and inter-generational contacts. This function has now been taken over by mass media. In matters of business, these new people are distinguished by their self-reliance, especially compared to their counterparts from other generational groups. But in matters of everyday life, they have rather to rely on the glossy magazines which now target them as their primary audience.

Note: The data to be quoted are all taken from VCIOM nation-wide polls in 1989-1998. Quotations in italics are taken from focus-groups conducted by the author.

Copyright © 1998 by Alexey Levinson

  * Abstract of a paper to be presented at the Conference, Russia at the End of the Twentieth Century (Stanford University, November 5-7, 1998).