Your Vodka's Probably Not Russian

[canyonwalker]

People are reacting in ways big and small to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. One of them is throwing out vodka. Several states have banned the sale of Russian vodka, and various bar owners have posted video of themselves pouring bottles of vodka down the drain. Should you throw away your vodka, too, in solidarity? Probably not, because your vodka's probably not Russian.

Many prominent brands of vodka in the US have never been Russian. For example, Absolut and Svedka are from Sweden. Ketel One is from Netherlands. Grey Goose is French. Belvedere is from Poland. Tito's and Skyy are American.

Even popular vodkas with Russian-sounding names are not actually Russian. Smirnoff is made in America now. Stolichnaya, the brand my Russian-native friends in college always bought— Shtoly, as they called it— moved production in 2000 to Latvia, a NATO member country. Years ago these brands were Russian. Consolidation in the beverage industry into a small number of multinational giants changed that.

Comments

[ihavenoarms]

in Canada, the licker store is revving all Russen licker from the stores

[sorcyress]

Also, it feels absurd to throw out things that have already been purchased. I get the idea of the symbol, but the money is spent and gone to whichever corporation already, dumping it down the drain won't pull the money out of their pockets.

(And if you throw it out and then later replace it, that just seems disingenuous.)

[canyonwalker]

Yeah, it's absurd. Most consumer protests are pointless. Pouring Russian vodka onto the floor is purely symbolic. As you point out, the money's already been paid to the Russian producer. If people wanted to apply even the tiniest amount of consumer pressure on Russia they'd probably drink their Russian vodka— since the money's already spent— then make sure to buy something else to replace it.

It reminds me of the gas price protests back in the 00s and early 10s. People were like, "Let's protest high prices by not buying gas on Tuesday. That'll show 'em!"

HelloOOo... if people buy twice as much gas on Monday or Wednesday you're not showing them (the gas station owners or the oil companies) anything. If you want to apply pocketbook pressure you have to resolve to make lasting change.