X-Files star David Duchovny criticised for appearing in Russian beer advert
Call it bad timing. David Duchovny’s latest role is stirring up more intrigue than any episode of “The X-Files”. The U.S. actor plays himself in a beer ad for AB-InBev’s brand Sibirskaya Korona (“Sibirian Crown”), imagining how proud he would be if he were Russian. The ad was first aired on YouTube on 25 July 2014, only days after the downing of flight MH17 in the Ukraine.
Mr Duchovny says in the video: “And I found out that being Russian, I’d have many things to be proud of.”
A message in Russian was posted with the video. The Google translation of the message said that Mr Duchovny “decided to do a film about Russian pride and love of country.”
Western media in unison slammed Mr Duchovny for appearing in this ad, considering the international condemnation of Russia after a Malaysian airliner went down over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people on board.
Mr Duchovny says at the start of the 2½-minute video: “This is the country [the U.S.] where I was born and raised. But there is another country, where I got my family name from. And sometimes I wonder: What if things turned out differently? What if I were Russian?”
Incidentally, Mr Duchovny’s family emigrated from what is now the Ukraine to the U.S., not from Russia. On his paternal side Mr Duchovny is Jewish from a family that previously lived in Ukraine and Poland. His mother hailed from Scotland, according to the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper.
Whether Mr Duchovny’s support of Sibirskaya Korona will save the Russian beer market from its decline is doubtful.
AB-InBev reported on 31 July 2014 that during the April-to-June quarter 2014 its beer sales in Russia dropped by about 10 percent. AB-InBev is ranked second in Russia with a market share of about 14 percent.
The Russian beer market is estimated to have declined 5 percent during the first six months this year.
Losses in Russia dragged AB-InBev’s overall European beer sales down 5 percent. The decline during the second quarter would not have been as bad, said AB-InBev, if they had not experienced problems in the Ukraine too. AB-InBev would not admit their losses there, but estimates say that the Ukraine beer market was down by about 11 percent during the first six months 2014.
The whole of the European market accounted for 11 percent of AB-InBev’s beer volumes and 9.7 percent of AB-InBev’s profits during the first half 2014.
During the first half 2014 global revenue grew 6.8 percent to USD 22.8 billion, while profits (EBITDA) rose 10.1 percent to USD 8.7 billion. Total volumes increased 2.6 percent year-on-year, AB-InBev announced.
