ABSTRACT
This article examines the development of television advertising in Russia in recent years, focusing on the marketing of beer in particular, the second most advertised product on television and a key arena in the overlap of selling products and promoting culture-specific values. 1 I adopt a semiotic approach, focusing on an analysis of a number of important advertisements that appeared after 2000, rather than exploring issues of state or private financing of channels, legislation on advertising, or the murky world of kickbacks within channels, characteristic of the early days of post-Soviet television advertising. 2
