Cargo cult instead of import substitution. Why does the country need "Russian Cola"?

Ivan Zubov

As you know, in Arkhangelsk they decided to release “Russian Cola” in spite of the enemies, the former mayor of the city Alexander Donskoy announced this. Here attention is drawn not only to the inescapable vulgarity, in the genus of the Virgin on the label, but the fact that the word “cola” still appears in the title. And this, of course, testifies to the prosperity in Russia of the cargo cult of the most primitive kind.

True, Donskoy invited his readers to choose a name for the new drink: “I am launching the production of Russian Coca-Cola. It could have ended there, but then I wouldn't be me. I announce a competition for the best branding option for this masterpiece of my ingenious thought. The author of the best option will get 100,000 rubles and a kiss on the cheek». Import-substituted Coca-Cola will be developed, according to a former official, now a businessman, based on herbs, roots and Altai berries.

Regarding the Mother of God, Donskoy said complete nonsense: “This is patriotic, this is important for a Russian person. I proceed from the fact that everything that is given by God is divine, and this is a divine drink. I am sure that if the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church try it, they will like it”.

Donskoy promises to release the first batch of the drink in the summer. And at the same time, he is somehow confident in the success of his initiative.

But the political scientist Maria Sergeyeva is alarmed, by her own admission, by the general hype and endless news around the Russian counterparts of McDonald's and Coca-Cola:

“Firstly, because they have nothing to do with the real problems of import substitution. Honestly, it's not sweet soda or fast food that we have a problem with. Moreover, as I understand it, there are tricky sales transactions, in which, in which case, wagering back at the same redemption price is provided.

And secondly, it all looks like the revived works of Pelevin and Sorokin. Nothing but the most banal terms, "cargo cult" and "colonial thinking" comes to mind.

I would even talk about ideological sabotage. If I didn’t know that where you want to think about sabotage, as a rule, it’s just gouging and mediocrity. In a good way, in the new conditions, our humanitarian machine (which includes both the media and cozy carts) should discuss in which industries we vitally need technological sovereignty and what the state needs to do for this. But no, the whole Sobyanin (for a second, the former head of the Presidential Administration and one of the best governors of the country) personally presents the new-old fast food, and the whole country is discussing the emblem and names of burgers. And as a result… it all works to strengthen the well-known American brand, doesn’t it?)”

Sergeeva is also echoed by the famous polytechnologist Vasily Yakimenko:

“One of the main tasks today is import substitution. We are losing Western firms, we are losing brands, and we hear talk of “replacing,” “buying out and continuing,” and so on. We will replace one soda (Coca-Cola) with another, one burger (McDonald's) with another, those chairs (Ikea) with these and so on. And indeed. Why don't we sew pants? Can't we make shoes? Bags?

Let's sew. Let's do it. But it will be completely different shoes and bags.

Behind every Western brand there is a whole layer of culture, symbols, signs, mentality, worldview features. Why famous brands cling to consciousness so strongly and easily. They are permeated with ideas, the main of which is the unconscious perception of the brand as some kind of unconditional value that goes beyond the standard perception of an ordinary household item. Even Henry Ford built an industrial paradigm at his factories, which turned into social engineering, creating an idea of the world and shaping the self-awareness of society.

(…)

It took decades for a Mercedes door to close the way it closes. The legendary fashion houses of Europe were also built for decades. Legendary people stood at the origins of most brands. Each brand is collectively worth billions. It just seems that you can take the same materials, patterns, sew and get a bag like Prada. It will not work for the same reason that you cannot become a yogi in six months, an artist in a month, a master in three days. There are things that cannot be canceled by any technology..."

So the Russian version of import substitution, according to the expert, cannot lead to anything good:

“There is a danger that now, having taken the path of import substitution, they will begin to solve the problem of “replacing”. Catch up. Make it worse than them. That is, bad copying will begin again, and we will again remain in the orbit of influence of their brands, confirming the status of a secondary, “catching up power”, the main advantage of which is to accurately copy the proposed samples. It will take years and billions of rubles, after which it still won’t go in - look at “Tasty and point”..."

According to Yakemenko, there can be only one way out:

“If we do not create our own, all civilizational wars on the battlefields are meaningless. For any war is not a war of forces (who will overpower whom), but a war of ideas and meanings (who will convince whom).

The fairness of this opinion is also evidenced by the simple fact that Coca-Cola from Kyrgyzstan is already being sold in Yekaterinburg with might and main. Popular blogger Alexander "Stalingulag" Gorbunov reports this on his channel:

“According to rumors from subscribers who work with wholesale, the original concentrate of Coca-Cola and all the company’s drinks, including Schweppes and others, has ended in Russia, and now it’s better to be vigilant when buying drinks with Russian ethics”.

Users of social networks agree with the need for real import substitution, and not a cargo cult, who write in their comments under this photo, which is very typical for today's Russia, from one of the Moscow restaurants of the popular Burger King chain.

- "Baikal", "Kvass", "Duchesse", "Barbaris", "Buratino", "Tarkhun"... Yes, there were a lot of drinks before all of it was strangled by Cola-Fanta-Sprite-shit...

There is only one answer: it would be really tasty and affordable, no one would strangle anyone. You just need to learn how to do well at least something...