Belarus. Rated R.
Coming soon to a theater near you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the second half of our show
will begin in just a couple of minutes.
Please return to your seats.
ey, Misha.
I didn't think anybody
was actually going to show up.
I'm sorry. Do we know each other?
Yes, but you don't remember.
I'm Abby Gibbons. Bob's niece.
Right, yeah.
You came to visit him about seven years ago.
Such a cute little girl you were then.
hanks.
Actually it was nine years ago,
and I remember you very well.
You been in Moscow long?
About a year.
Bob never mentioned it.
Yeah, well, that's my secretive uncle.
And the winner is...
creative director Mikhail Galkin.
Still one of the leaders
in the marketing of movies.
I've just seen the founder and president
of Best Solution,
pioneer of the Russian advertising industry,
Bob Gibbons!
hank you. What are you doing, Misha?
Come on, get over here.
Bob, what's happened?
Why are you back already?
We hit a snag.
You won't be making partner today.
I'm sorry, Mish.
Let's face it, Bob.
For you, this agency is just a cover.
And your people are never going to let me
be a partner in it.
All right, I got it.
So, what are you suggesting here?
Very simple. If I can't be a partner,
then I at least want to be making
the same money off it that you are.
Yeah. Yes.
Where are you? Abby?
Why won't you ever listen to one thing
I ask you to do?
I will call you later.
his goddamn girl's going to be
the death of me.
She won't listen to her parents!
She took a semester off to do
some sort of internship here,
and now she won't leave!
Christ.
and the sun's just starting to set.
I will never understand this crazy country.
One more thing.
I saw howAbby's got her eye on you, so...
She's young and... and stupid.
Please.
Stay away from her.
his is Joseph Pascal,
the world's leading specialist
on marketing.
Bravo.
Today, the biggest fast food chains
were reeling
from a record decline in profits.
heir representatives had assembled
before this guru of marketing
with the hope that he could make a miracle.
I want to talk to you today
about love.
See, I have struggled
to find a way to restore the people's love
of your products,
but it hasn't worked out.
Consumers just no longer wish to buy them.
When it's over, it's over.
hey no longer love you.
he era of fast food has passed.
But I do have a proposal.
Something which exceeds
the limits of marketing
in its traditional form.
A plan which will change the world.
Together, we will make fat beautiful again.
But first, a question.
ow far are you willing to go
to solve your problems?
Whatever it takes.
Within the limits of the law, of course.
I'm afraid that's not far enough.
Not even nearly far enough,
ladies and gentlemen.
he guru's plan was approved.
But due to budget cuts,
it would have to begin
in the third world markets
of Kenya, Brazil and Russia.
So I called because I wanted your advice
on something, Mr. Marketing Award Winner.
But you have to promise
to keep it a secret from Bob.
It's amazing how you Americans
all believe in seat belts.
In America, they advertise them really well.
Yeah, Misha.
Yeah, she's still screaming like total shit.
You're fired. Your company's fired.
Do you hear me?
You're never going to work on another movie
for this studio again.
I'm sorry, I have to go.
Let's go.
Check it out.
One of the key instruments
in the Russian part of the plan
was an extreme makeover reality V show.
hey're looking for a Russian
production company
to shoot a Russian version of this show.
he corporate sponsor's representative
is in Moscow right now.
I want to do the pitch to them myself
and get the contract for Astra,
and then they're gonna make me
an exec producer.
Do you really think this is going to work?
Nope.
Misha, what you're doing
had better work.
We need 8 out of 10 people tomorrow
in that focus group
to want to see this movie.
Don't worry, Mr. Johnson,
it'll meet your expectations.
So, Misha, where did you learn
that amazingly perfect nglish of yours?
My father was a British communist.
Immigrated here.
And later, he had a falling out with communism
but they wouldn't let him leave.
- hat's terrible.
- Yeah.
Belarus. Rated R.
Coming soon to a theater near you.
i, Pavel. Yeah, it's fine.
Just add some graphics over the shot that say,
"No one will hear this scream."
Wow!
Sunrise in the middle of the night.
It's so weird.
Mish, you know how much I wanted you
to make partner,
'cause I love you.
Let's have a drink.
So, my very first meal at he Burger in Moscow.
I knew about your guys' custom
for paying for extra ketchup,
so I paid for six packets.
But then, I needed more.
But the cashier says...
"Nyet. Nyet."
"You've already had enough."
Do you understand
what I'm saying to you?
Like she fucking decides
that I have had enough.
It's not a real burger, Misha,
if I can't have extra ketchup.
It's just a fucking... it's a fucking facade.
his whole country is just like one
ollywood backlot-fucking-facade.
And it's a really shitty made one at that.
ow many of you would buy
a ticket to this movie
based on the advertisement?
hat's right!
I told you this movie could work.
- hanks, brother.
- All right, my friend.
Mish, thanks.
- Bob.
- Yeah?
- You forgot your pen.
- Yes. hank you.
And you still haven't got back to me
about my new deal.
I know. I know.
Misha discovered his talent
for marketing
shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Communism was over.
But capitalism had only just begun.
The forbidden brands of the West
became available 24/7
in thousands of newly born kiosks.
Misha was working at one of those kiosks,
having just completed
his university history degree.
There, he learned
the three basic rules of marketing.
He advised the owner to specialize
in selling vodka only.
Sales doubled.
Misha suggested hanging bright yellow signs
above the kiosks
announcing vodka only.
Sales increased 12 times.
The owner bought himself
a used Mercedes S320.
But when Misha asked for a raise,
he was fired on the spot.
He had learned the third rule:
Get paid up front,
because no one believes in marketing.
Enterprising young Misha
abandoned his career
as an unskilled laborer
and opened
his own advertising agency,
Mikhail Galkin Global Marketing,
with funds borrowed from an old family friend,
Yuri Nikolaivich.
That was the first time Misha
appealed to God for help.
i. I'm Bob Gibbons.
Bob agreed to bail Misha out of debt
and to hire him in Bob's
soon-to-be opened
American-Russian
advertising agency.
There was just one catch.
Sorry. I...
I don't quite understand this. What...
What are you, a spy?
You want me to become a spy, too?
I'm not a spy.
I'm a historian.
Would you do me a favor, please?
Would you just calm down?
Just relax and listen, Misha.
Misha?
I'm a real Madison Avenue ad man,
I do a little work with US A.l.D,
which sometimes works with
other organizations
that shall remain nameless.
Listen, you guys are starting up
a democracy over here.
But democracy isn't just about
switching governments,
it's about... it's about business.
It's about advertising.
It's about Coke versus Pepsi.
Now, we will start
a serious advertising agency,
and we will make a lot of money.
The client list is going to be
the new political candidates,
the business elite,
movie producers,
and all you have to do...
is keep your eyes and ears
trained on them and report.
Report what?
Whatever you see.
Whatever you hear.
That's it.
- Poor bastard.
- That's my investor.
Yeah.
You're going to be needing
a new investor.
Picture it, Misha.
Your new job is just...
spreading the principles
of freedom and democracy.
And so began Misha's career
as a marketer-spy.
Over the next 15 years,
he designed the first Russian campaigns
for a host of western brands,
like the now-famous slogan for The Burger:
"The Taste of Freedom"
and he furnished Bob
with reports on his clients.
And because of you
and your incredible work...
this big beautiful country is now
almost a democracy.
Okay, so look, Abby.
Why aren't you just producing
this reality show yourself?
Why do you think?
'Cause I don't have the money!
ow much does it cost?
Like $750,000.
What's with your air conditioning
system, anyway?
This is like a brand-new car!
What's she doing?
What are you doing?
Same as everybody else.
This suit is murder.
You mind looking out the window?
But then that girl will think I'm staring at her.
Doesn't matter, you Russian men
are all supposed to be pigs, anyway.
But the way the Russian women
go around here,
like prima ballerinas in skin-tight clothing,
honest, regular American girl
doesn't stand a chance.
There, all done.
What would you say
to doing the show with me?
We are called xtreme Cosmetics.
And this is a real story about a real girl.
Well, she's what you call overweight,
but she's unusually charming.
And that's where the miracle happens.
This fat cow gets transformed
into a beautiful fawn,
and she becomes a national superstar.
And for that,
we need nationwide casting search.
I think the real problem isn't the casting,
it's finding the director.
Yes, and the best one is Schwartz,
Roman Schwartz.
Astra Productions.
So what you're saying is
that Schwartz is your guy?
That's what I'm telling you.
Will you excuse me for a second?
Mechislava,
please allow me to introduce
the lead director in our new company,
my friend Roman Schwartz.
- How do you do?
- Nice to meet you.
Take a look.
ere is the world's first marketing.
What are you talking about?
I mean it was Lenin
who invented marketing in 1918.
e found an absolutely unique way
to sell people the idea
of Soviet communism.
The factories to the workers,
land to the peasants,
peace to the soldiers.
e made the product promise one thing:
appiness.
And that's marketing.
Lenin hired just simply the best designers
and copywriters.
Rodchenko...
No, that's not Rodchenko.
But, here, Mayakovsky.
The brand's official color: Red.
The logo: The five-pointed star.
Once they'd established the super brand,
they designed campaigns
for all the product lines to carry.
So, chocolates for Red October,
perfumes, Red Moscow...
And the GB?
The GB came later,
like a sort of brand police.
See, it's the dream of every brand
to make the competition's products illegal.
That's exactly what they did.
Tragically, they had really shitty
production, so...
the product failed to live up to its promise,
and consumers fell out of love
with the Soviet Union.
"Dear Mr. Mayakovsky,"
"it would be our pleasure to invite you
to the United States..."
"to share with us your fascinating new ideas
about advertising."
This is from the president
of General lectric.
A lot of Lenin's guys
lectured for American companies.
And, as you can see,
the Americans studied well.
This is all very interesting, Misha,
but you still haven't answered
my question.
Why is it you're not married?
I'm not sure we should be doing this.
Dating usually just gets
in the way of business, Abby.
These days...
I don't think anything
gets in the way of business.
By the way...
there's just one thing I think we should
agree upon from the beginning.
Okay.
We're 50/50 partners. Right?
Shut up.
- Stop. I should get that.
- Not now.
Misha.
Abby!
Get out of the car! Get out of the car, you...
Get out of that car now!
- Don't be scared.
- Out of the car, you fucking coward!
- Just calm down, Bob.
- You want me to calm down?
I am going to calm you down once and for all!
Abby! Abby!
ey! ey!
ey! Abby, get out of the car.
Get out of the car!
It's okay, Abby. It's okay. It's okay.
Okay, okay. ey.
Can we... Can we please just discuss this
like normal people?
- You want to discuss it?
- Yeah.
All right, let's discuss it.
Misha set out with Abby
to cast the perfect fat girl,
having no idea who stood behind
the final decision.
She could be a star.
She can be a star!
The show premiered to high ratings,
but the night before the operation episode,
the star panicked.
What's she saying?
She's saying she doesn't want
to do the surgery.
She's scared.
Asking us to let her go.
We have to go to her.
We have to talk to her.
No, no, no. It's okay. It's just nerves.
Nobody needs to tell her anything.
- I don't know.
- Abby. ey, stop it.
verything's going to be fine.
We, like, totally won!
The operation was a success,
and Veronika's sleeping like a baby!
There was, like, so much blood
I almost fainted!
You're so full of shit!
I know.
Who is this?
Misha. Wake up.
What? Why are you shaking me?
Veronika's asleep.
So let her sleep. I'm also sleeping.
She didn't come out from under the anesthesia.
ave the Veronika crying tape
shown on the evening news.
I directed this show like it was a movie,
and a real person is lying in a coma.
No. No, listen.
That was an accident, okay?
What happened to Veronika
is not our responsibility, okay?
It is not your fault.
Fine.
I'm gonna go see the insurance guys.
ey.
ven if you won't have money,
you'll still have me.
Look, Abby...
I'm going to see to it that I have money, too.
Mikhail Galkin, one of the producers
of the scandalous reality show
xtreme osmetics
was arrested today on charges of fraud.
Galkin's partner,
American citizen Abigail Gibbons,
has also been taken into custody.
ighly placed sources have suggested
that they are being held
to quiet public outcry over Veronika's coma.
No, no, no. No, no. No, no, no.
No, let's manufacture
some official medical conclusion
that the coma is nobody's fault.
Just some unpredictable physical reaction.
That's good. I like that. Very good.
No, no. What we want is
to make it so that nobody believes
the medical conclusion.
But the people still must demand
someone be punished.
I want...
some fat...
- in Smolensk.
- In Smolensk, saying...
"What the hell? So they cut her up
and now it's nobody's fault!"
- ello?
- Abby!
Misha?
I'm at Sheremetevo.
I'm going away.
Can you hear me?
I'm going away forever.
It was part of the deal.
Hello? Call Bob.
- Call Bob. He'll tell you.
- Abby, I understand everything now!
I love you.
Abby, I lost you! Abby!
I love you.
ello?
Strange coincidence, wouldn't you say?
A simple cosmetic surgery
lands a woman in a coma.
The media reacts with a hysteria not seen
since the first man landed on the moon.
And you know who it all benefits?
You, you fuck!
You set this whole thing up
to take Abby away from me
and put me under your control again.
Now listen to me, okay?
To organize the kind of hysteria that you
are talking about would cost millions.
And to perform that surgery on TV
so that your little girl would fall into a coma
would require some sort of super-elite killer.
Now, you think, you really think
that I would spend that kind of money...
on you?!
I actually thought that perhaps
you came here to thank me.
But no, no, no.
You don't have to thank me
for getting you out of jail.
Because if I had any other way
to convince Abby to leave this country
your ass would still be in that jail,
you son of a bitch!
Get out.
Let's have a drink.
Listen, Bob...
There's something I've been wanting
to tell you for a long time now.
Why do you think it is that the very first guy
you met in Moscow
became the most valuable agent
of your career?
I don't know. Why?
Because I was fucking terrified.
I'm not a spy, I told you that.
I'm a historian.
You, what, thought I...
went around all these years
recording my clients
with a hidden spy camera?
You remember my first report?
Yeah.
I made it all up for you, Bob.
And you believed me.
You smug, stupid robot.
Misha turned his first employer,
the kiosk owner who had fired him,
into a drug-dealing mobster.
In my mind,
I even imagined my report
like it was the trailer
to one of those
Tom Clancy Paramount thrillers.
This looks like a normal businessman.
But in a place where everything is a facade...
to get the truth out,
you have to go inside.
Mr. lvanov's iosks,
coming soon to a nation near you.
You told me my reports were just for analysts
to study back in Washington.
But they didn't just study them, did they?
The CIA leaked Misha's information
to The New York Times.
Shortly thereafter, a real Russian mobster,
and avid reader of The New York Times,
showed up demanding half
of Mr. lvanov's alleged earnings
from tax fraud and drug trafficking.
Unfortunately, Mr. lvanov lacked
the necessary skills in marketing
to persuade him that
The New York Times was mistaken.
Misha had discovered
his talent for marketing
could not only shape desires
and sell products...
it could do much more.
Marketing could change the world.
You made my life a living hell.
Aw, fuck it.
This is RTV News.
The Brazilian News Service reports the death
of a 17 year-old model from anorexia.
The event was marked by wide-scale protests
in Rio de Janeiro.
Mikhail Galkin?
Believing his talent for marketing was a curse,
Misha vowed never to use it again.
And since there was nowhere in the city
to go without advertising,
he left, hoping never to return.
I congratulate you, ladies and gentlemen.
We have completed the first step of this,
the most difficult, the most audacious,
the absolutely most risky
business strategy in history.
We have begun to alter consumers'
concept of beauty
in enya, Brazil, and Russia.
I guarantee, in five years,
nobody will recognize these countries.
We begin with the third world,
and then we'll transform the rest.
Picture a world where only
fat women will be popular.
Fat will become the new fabulous.
Misha!
So you're a shepherd now?
I was totally convinced I'd find you
with, like, a wife and five kids.
I don't have anybody.
What are you doing here?
Sleeping.
I mean, what the hell are you doing here?
What, you think you're a Buddhist?
You're no Buddhist.
I know you.
You were so strong.
I was always so amazed
by how strong you were.
I'm sorry, Abby, but I'm not going back.
I can't.
You wanted everything!
And now what do you want?
Your uncle once told me I was a bad man.
- You know, he was right.
- Misha.
The world will be a better place, Abby,
with me staying out here.
That night, the same force
that had marked Misha as a child
sent him a message in a dream.
He dreamed, while shepherding his cows
he grew very tired and fell asleep.
In the dream within the dream,
he saw nothing.
He only heard a voice.
A voice that told him
there was something he must do.
It described it to him clearly
and in perfect detail.
After that, he woke up.
Upon awakening, he remembered
all that had been told to him
as if each and every word
had been inscribed in his head.
And he was sure that, if he did
what the dream told him to do,
he would understand
the meaning behind everything.
Give me love triple triple,
give me happiness double double.
'Cause I be a big hero
and I stay big for the beat.
Look at this city,
and look at this party.
Big, your time has come.
Big people, be yourself.
Let's go
if you get more fat,
I would like it like that.
Fat, fat
if you get more fat
I would like it like that.
Fat, fat
if you get more fat,
I would like it like that.
Fat, fat
if you get more fat,
I would like it like that.
Fat, fat, fat
Misha!
What's wrong?
Quiet. Don't move.
Okay.
What are you doing?
Misha!
uh?
Nothing.
Nothing. verything's fine.
Fine. Fine.
Thank God. You were passed out
for, like, forever.
Ls this Moscow?
Yeah, this is Moscow.
I'm sorry, I couldn't just leave you there.
I don't know how to tell you this
without completely shocking you.
i, baby.
This is your son.
Robert.
Robert...
This is your father.
Mommy, I don't think that's Daddy.
And he was a really nice guy.
And he proposed.
And Robert really liked him.
And I just kept thinking about you.
That time when we were together
was the best time of my life.
I was so in love with you.
I just had to try and find you...
and see if what was between us
was still in the past.
I'm scared.
So you're not mad at me for kidnapping you?
Of course not.
I just want to look at you.
What's wrong?
It was a mistake.
We never should have done it.
No, it wasn't.
Please, you're the one who looks at me
like you hate me.
You don't believe that.
That's right. You saw creatures!
God, you're such a sick freak!
Abby, I really do see creatures on you!
Fuck you, Misha.
I'm sorry.
I am really sorry.
It was just a hallucination.
We'll get you better.
Misha discovered that what the voice
in his dream had made him do
was perform, rather precisely,
one of the most ancient and mysterious rituals
in human history:
The Sacrifice of the Red Cow.
I don't know when we'll be back.
It all depends, you know.
Just remember to water my plants.
That's it, yeah.
Sorry. xcuse me. Do you...
Do you have $71/2 million?
old on one second.
Bob left it to me in his will.
So now you've got money and me.
appy?
Yeah...
He read that it cleanses you
from the sin of touching a corpse
and purifies you from
the sin of the Golden Calf
so that you can see things
that others cannot.
- You promised.
- Robbie, I didn't promise you anything, okay?
Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!
No. I don't like this attitude.
Mommy, I want it! I want it!
You promised.
- Don't you think that's a little bit fattening?
- uh!
Robert.
Why does he have to say
stupid stuff like that?
What do you say to your father?
You say you're sorry.
Sorry.
Okay.
Mommy, Mommy, please
can I have some? uh, Mommy?
I want it. I want it.
Please, Mommy, come on!
All right.
- Weirdo.
- ey.
ey, remember what I said about
crossing the streets?
You remember?
No more burger if you don't remember.
To organize the kind of hysteria
you're talking about...
What's going on?
It's okay, I was...
My head was just spinning for a second.
Come on, let's go.
So finally we get to look like a regular family.
Of course. We are a family.
"And so Ramek defeated Gaunt Worm
and freed the good princess."
"And they bestowed upon him
the name Ramek...
conqueror of beasts."
Read it again, Daddy. Please?
Be back in a hour with the tickets.
Bye-bye, Daddy. Don't eat my hamburger.
Come on, baby.
Okay, Misha. What the fuck?
Listen, Abby, I have tried to pretend
that everything is okay,
but, Abby, everything is not okay.
- Yeah, I can see that.
- All right. I see them.
And I know I'm really seeing them.
It's brands, Abby. They're alive!
I see how it works! Don't...
Please don't look at me like that.
I am not crazy.
Misha.
And I know who's responsible
for what happened to Veronika.
I know who put her into a coma!
I know who destroyed our lives!
Who?
Fast food!
The fast food corporations
are responsible for all of it!
I can... I can prove it to you.
It was a conspiracy,
a disgusting, cynical conspiracy.
All the noise surrounding
what happened to Veronika
was manufactured
to alter people's image of beauty.
To make fat cool.
Cool to be fat.
Cool to eat more hamburgers.
I mean, look what they've done to people.
Look what they've done to Robert!
What have they done to Robert?
What have they done to him?
Okay. Okay...
ere.
They feed off our desires, okay?
You begin to want something,
and this... this big weird creature
growing out of you starts getting bigger.
Okay? They make you have desires
that aren't the kind
that can be completely fulfilled.
They've gotten totally out of control!
It's not as if we can have
that many desires anyway
to have them wasted on these...
things!
What's gotten out of control?
Fast food's gotten out of control?
No, what's fast food got to do with it?
I mean, yes, yes, fast food is...
it's all the brands. It's the whole system.
It's an occupation.
A subtle, unnoticeable occupation,
and everyone is just running around happy!
veryone's smiling!
That's because everybody wants to be happy.
A castrated lamb is happy, too, Abby.
Great.
Because it doesn't know what it lost.
I mean, we don't even know that desires
can be different anymore.
We have been trained to love shit,
want shit, and shit shit.
Trained? Trained by whom?
Lenin!
Marketing was invented by Lenin!
Don't you remember any of this?
And now, it's the foundation
of the world economy.
The great global brand revolution has won.
We are all still living in the world
Lenin created.
It used to be the brands were formed
from peoples' desires.
Now it's the people that are being formed
according to the desires of the brands.
Fine.
Okay.
What are you going to do about it?
I don't... I don't know.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
ey...
I know what you need to do about all of this.
You need to go see a doctor.
This strange and deadly new disease
continues to grip Russia.
and medical authorities
are no closer to determining its source.
What's causing the outbreak?
Well, we at the World Medical Association
are continuing...
Pull over please, Abby.
To caution everyone that while the virus
is deadly in 40%...
The disease cannot be classified
as epidemic.
Misha?
ey.
Why don't you let me help you?
Let me help you.
Abby. Abby, I didn't mean to...
Abby!
Wait!
Guys?
Robert?
Abby?
Misha...
All of this is too hard and unhealthy
for Robert and me.
I'm sorry, but we can't be together.
We're going on vacation alone.
Please leave the apartment
before our return.
The violence has gone too...
signed the letter to the President.
The letter labels the outbreak
of the new disease a pandemic
far more dangerous than bird flu.
Of the late 20th century and the early 21 st,
had clear sources.
When HIV-AIDS appeared,
people quickly learned what to do
and what not to do to avoid
contracting the deadly virus.
The origin of the new disease
is still unknown,
and, to date, there is no effective cure
on the horizon.
Robert Black, LN News, reporting.
Distinguished leaders of restaurant chain
Dim Song,
it is my great pleasure to introduce you
to a true legend in the world of marketing,
Mikhail Galkin.
So, gentlemen...
you wish to introduce a chain of vegetarian
restaurants into the Russian market.
I've analyzed the results
of the focus group,
and, frankly, I must say
you have a problem.
Russians just don't like your product.
Marketing in its traditional form
is simply powerless here.
Thank you for your very interesting opinion,
Mr. Galkin.
I do, however, have a proposal.
Something which exceeds the limits
of marketing in its traditional form.
But first, let me ask you a question.
ow far are you willing to go
to solve your problem?
We are ready for anything.
Anything within the law, of course.
I'm afraid that's not going to be
far enough, gentlemen.
We are ready to go far enough.
Fine.
Then I would like you
to mass-produce and market
a little apparatus for testing beef.
A beef tester, for short.
- What?
- A beef tester.
What?
Yeah, it's good.
Just add some graphics that say,
"Test your beef or taste your death."
Right, guys!
Despite the beef tester campaign's
insinuation,
only 12 percent of Russians polled
believe there is a link between
mad cow disease
and the deadly new virus that has
to date claimed over 500 lives.
In response, the Russian minister
of food and agriculture
consumed a hamburger live on TV today
during a press conference
in which he announced
a nationwide ban on the campaign.
As a result, restaurant chain Dim Song
has recorded
record losses for last quarter.
You tell Mr. Min Tao
banning the beef tester campaign
was part of the plan.
You tell him that now is the time to open
and advertise his restaurants.
A lot of restaurants.
And tell him that I would suggest not limiting
his campaign to Russia alone.
What?
Following the government's ban
on the advertising campaign for beef testers
and the sudden, unexplained death
of the Russian minister
of food and agriculture,
consumers are now completely convinced
that beef is deadly dangerous.
Meanwhile, over the last three days,
opened in Moscow alone
where one can eat without having
to test every slice of beef.
Whether this newfound love
of all things vegetable will stick,
only time can tell.
From the streets of Moscow, Russia,
this is Diana ruger, Business Channel News.
Abby, it's me.
verything's changed now.
Sorry I was sick, but now I'm okay.
I know it sounded crazy
when I told you
that fast food was to blame
for everything,
but look, if in a week,
or if in two weeks
The Burger goes bankrupt,
then I'm not crazy
and you'll answer my call.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I understand your despair.
Believe me, I do.
But, unfortunately, I have practically nothing
to cheer you up with.
But, perhaps...
Looks like a storm is coming.
Wait, what were you gonna say?
I don't want to get your hopes too high...
We're joined today in the studio
by economic analyst Mark Short.
Now, I want to ask you the same thing
that must be on the minds
of many of our viewers out there.
Fine, people have stopped eating beef
for the moment,
but why is that having such a big effect
on these massive fast food corporations?
What, you're telling me
they don't have billions saved up?
Well, that's exactly right.
You have to understand
that their hard costs alone
for a week of operation
are in the hundreds of millions.
Mommy, are hamburgers bad
in America, too?
Come on. Come on, Abby, pick it up.
Come on, pick up the phone.
Abby, pick up the phone.
It's very unlikely consumers will return
to beef any time in the near future.
I love you. Pick up the phone.
Demanded a government bailout.
Do you think that's likely to happen?
There's really no chance
of a government bailout.
Well, do you think
the fast food industry can survive?
That depends on what kind of food
they choose to serve.
You've reached Abby and Robert.
Leave us a message
and we'll call you right back.
When the threat came only from
the Russian market, they could withstand it,
but now that the beef scare
has gone global,
the end comes for them rather quickly.
Well, I never thought I would live
to see the day.
- ...has joined the conference.
- ...CO has joined the conference.
- The president of BFO has joined the conference.
- The leader has joined the conference.
Ladies and gentlemen...
The Burger is dead.
The growth of brands has spiraled
out of control.
Never before in history has it been
this difficult to record growth,
because there simply is not enough room
in the minds of consumers
to hold new desires for new products.
What happened in the case of fast food
has fundamentally altered the market forever.
A crippling anxiety has seized consumers.
They're terrified the products can hurt them.
A unique opportunity now stands before you.
The time has come to clear a free space
in the minds of consumers
where your products can live on.
Today, in order to get consumers
to continue to desire computers
you have to first make them
lose interest in cell phones.
What you need is to convince them
that the competition's brands
are deadly dangerous.
Destroy the market for cell phones...
and eradicate the competition.
For your brands to grow,
they need to learn how to attack.
And I know how to teach your brands to attack.
of Misha's rumor campaign,
every remaining corporation in the world
was using his new technology.
And so began a total brand war:
Everyone for himself.
Well, Jon...
Thank you so much for taking us
to the concert.
We had such a lovely time.
- My pleasure.
- Right, Robert?
The popular outcry against advertising
continues to be felt across the globe.
To be an advertiser today
has become more dangerous
than to admit being a homosexual
in the 1950s.
Nowhere has this been harder felt
than in Moscow, Russia.
- The Duma recently voted down legislation...
- Look, it's Daddy.
Proposing a universal ban on all advertising.
As last week's bombing of Red Square
by extremists demonstrates,
many in the public strongly disagree
with this decision.
And here is one of the leaders
of Russian advertising,
Mikhail Galkin. Mikhail?
Mikhail? One question please?
The final word on whether
the Russian government
will ban advertising
is in the hands of the President.
What's he going to do?
I'm sure the President
will make the right decision.
You've reached Abby and Robert
in Moscow.
Please leave us a message
after the tone.
i, Abby.
I'm calling to say goodbye.
I've tried everything.
I even met with the President,
but he wouldn't listen.
You've been right all along.
What I really needed to do was see a doctor.
and that ended with the death
of an innocent man.
and that ended with Veronika in a coma.
Now I decided to make the world
a better place,
and instead I just made things worse.
Why was I so sure the government
would ban advertising?
They will never ban advertising.
I must have been obsessed.
And now it's like
I've come to my senses and...
and there's bl...
blood everywhere...
and it's all my fault, my...
my insanity.
I wish...
Fuck it.
What's going on?
I'm calling you.
Okay.
Abby, come on!
Go! Get inside!
Yeah!
You are on, young man!
And a new era began.