On July 15, at an extraordinary meeting, the State Duma adopted in the first reading the scandalous bill on amendments to the Federal Law “On Advertising,” which had been quickly introduced just the day before. It is now scandalous not only because it essentially destroys the country’s entire outdoor advertising market in favor of one private company, but also because its author, MP Artem Kiryanov, risked publicly deceiving the almighty Vyacheslav Volodin. Such fearlessness will not be remembered in the lower house for a long time.
In response to Volodin’s direct question about the share of foreign capital in Russian outdoor advertising, Kiryanov gave the figure 76 percent. He deliberately reported data concerning Internet advertising aggregator companies such as Avito, whose interests are indeed also affected by the new law. But the deputies (during the meeting, 21 parliamentarians from all factions immediately signed up just to ask a question) were worried about the redistribution in outdoor advertising, and not the network bulletin boards ineptly dragged in here, apparently as a diversion.
In reality, according to experts, the share of foreign participation in the ownership structure of domestic outdoor advertising is currently close to zero. The market has long become civilized and transparent, and its numerous players belong to the category of small and medium-sized businesses, which simply do not make sense to hide themselves abroad. It’s a paradox, but foreign capital, experts suggest, may well only be found in the Russ Outdoor company, by the way, created at one time by the American media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. By the way, at Friday’s Duma meeting it was openly stated that it is in the interests of this company that Artem Kiryanov is fearlessly pushing through his bill, since only Russ Outdoor can formally satisfy the requirements that, according to the idea of the deputy’s creative group, should be presented to a candidate for the right to become a single digital operator outdoor advertising in Russia.
Well, at least for the second time, Artem Kiryanov lied to the deputies and the speaker, answering the question that the new law would not in any way affect the appearance of Russian cities and objects of cultural and historical heritage. He unequivocally stated that “this is not in the text of the bill.” Although its document clearly states that a single operator will be able to place advertising structures on cultural heritage sites without restrictions established by law. Moreover, the structures of the single operator themselves will not be subject to GOST R 52044-2003 (On outdoor advertising).
Has Artyom Kiryanov himself read his bill, and will this whole story now turn into a grandiose Duma scandal about outdoor advertising? The deputies froze in anticipation. According to old-timers, Vyacheslav Viktorovich never allowed anyone to treat himself with such an unceremonious attitude.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
