Russedress TV removed controversial alcohol advertising

Clearly illegal, says the Directorate of Health.

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Now the government is announcing more supervision of the commercial Russian market.

Russedress TV (RDTV) is one of the promo channels for Norway’s largest commercial player in the Russian market.

For the owners of the Russedress brand and the companies Redress, Russeservice and University, Russian equipment and school jumpers have been a goldmine, with a turnover of NOK 360 million last year alone.

In several videos from Russedress TV, the presenters party with the school pupils, offer alcohol, organize drinking games and interview pupils who are visibly intoxicated.

At the same time, the graduating students brag about the products of the same company.

“I think it’s been pretty good. I am very pleased with the entire collection,” says a Russian girl in one of the features. Today she works for Russedress.

Videos from Russedress-TV are published on TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, some of which can have many hundreds of thousands of views.

– This is prohibited. It is not allowed to use alcohol in advertising for another product, says department director Øyvind Giæver in the Directorate of Health.

Giæver believes there are more problematic aspects to the videos than the purely legal.

– These are young people who are on the threshold of life. Heavy alcohol consumption is not good from a public health perspective. There are many indirect risk factors such as violence, accidents and unwanted sexual incidents, he says.

– In addition, there are many potentially unfortunate aspects of today’s Russe celebrations, such as social exclusion, mental health and economic consequences, which the commercialization of Russe time helps to greatly reinforce.

Director Knut Lyngstad of Russedress writes to VG that the company has had a review of its social media platforms.

“Some films and features were removed because we saw that the content was not in line with our internal guidelines. Among other things, we removed three features where presenters drank alcohol together with drugs.”

The Directorate of Health is surprised by the offensive marketing.

– These are actors who are somewhat in the process of digging their own graves.

– There is increasing attention from society towards this activity. I’m surprised that the commercial players don’t buckle down more, I would have thought it was in their own interest to contribute to a slightly more responsible Russian celebration, says Giæver, who is director of the Living Conditions department in the Directorate of Health.

Giæver emphasizes that it is not the Russians he is criticizing.

– We do not want to cancel the celebration of the end of 13 years of schooling. It’s more the way it happens, how someone commercially exploits that celebration, he says.

– I think much of the commercial Russian market appears as a rather cynical business, without any thoughts about sustainability. It may be related to the fact that the russe time is a gap in life, how little feedback goes from those who have finished the russe time to those who are going to be russe. Bad experiences are shared to a small extent with future generations, believes Giæver.

The main part of the Russian market is controlled by Sandefjord man Ole Jørgen Smedsrud (63) and Onepiece founder Henrik Børke Nørstrud (42).

Smedsrud is the king of the commercial Russian market in Norway. He started in 1980, and has supplied Russian clothing through the company Russeservice.

In 2014, he merged with competitor Redress, which has the trademark Russedress. It was started by Nørstrud together with Onepiece colleague Knut Gresvig (42).

That’s how much the Russian entrepreneurs earn

• In 2022, the three Russian founders had estimated assets of a total of NOK 420 million.
• According to Finansavisen, last year Smedsrud’s companies had a total turnover of NOK 360 million, with a total profit of NOK 69.3 million.
• Ole Jørgen Smedsrud has taken out NOK 218 million in dividends over the past ten years, according to Finansavisen.
• In 2023, a dividend of 31.9 million was paid to the shareholders in Russeservice, Redress and University, writes Børsen.no.
• Smedsrud owns 56.3 per cent, and Nørstrud and Gresvig 17.9 per cent each, of the holding company R & U Holding AS, which includes Russeservice, Russedress/Redress and the school jumper supplier University.

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Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced this spring that the government wants to make Russian time safer and more inclusive. Among the government’s announced measures are stricter rules for Russian buses and better control of commercial operators.

– My clear opinion is that it is these players who are primarily driving the commercial drive and the need for closed groups among Russians, but also among increasingly younger students, Minister of Education Kari Nessa Nordtun (Ap) told Stavanger Aftenblad in April, after a meeting with the owners of Russedress and Russeservice.

The Bausa brothers have just landed at Stavanger Airport.

Russedress TV is ready with beer for the artists.

Ulysse Bonfils, who is the manager of the group which today is simply called Bausa, remembers the arrival in Stavanger.

– Bausa, who was Russian himself, was hired to perform. We didn’t realize that we were going to be greeted with a camera and beer at eight in the morning, so we were caught a bit on the bed. It wasn’t us who produced the content either, says Bonfils.

The video from 2023 has been removed from TikTok after VG asked questions about it.

“We think it is strange that VG is making a critical case about our social media channels, all the while we have done a review and removed content that is similar to what VG itself still has out on its editorial surfaces”, writes managing director Lyngstad to VG.

“Nor can we see that the content of our channels has a greater risk of being in breach of the law than VG’s own features.”

“On VGTV’s “Norway’s best Russian party”, there is, for example, a segment with Russians partying and drinking. In the program, presenter Magnus Devold is also closely surrounded by female Russians. In the series “Skål, Martha”, you test the “Russian drink” and talk about beer, wine, soft drinks and spirits. Some of these programs have an age limit of 9 years. Criticizing us for having editorial boundaries that VG itself practices is both strange and unfair,” writes Lyngstad.

This is how Thomas Manus Hønningstad, managing director, answers. in VGTV AS:

– VG is a diverse media house, with its own subsidiary, VGTV, which produces humor and entertainment. The series referred to are editorial entertainment programmes, made according to VGTV’s and VG’s editorial guidelines, and not commercial content or content produced to market products or services.

VG has been in contact with the relevant presenters at Russedress TV. They do not wish to comment on the matter.

The videos in this case were first discussed in VG journalist Ivar Brandvol’s book “Fitte & diesel – Russen’s own stories about the secret life on the buses”.

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In March this year, there was chaos in the center of Bergen when the brand Russemerch, which has the same owners as Russedress and Russeservice, announced on social media that they would be handing out free samples in the city.

500 drunks and minors surrounded the car with the organizers, who had to call the police and ask for help. The distribution had to be cancelled. According to Bergens Tidende, the youngest attendees were only ten to twelve years old.

“Far more people turned up than expected, and far more than at similar events elsewhere in the country. We experienced that the police in the local media gave praise for the way we handled the situation, but we are still not going to arrange anything similar in the future”, writes Lyngstad in Russedress to VG.

“The youngest attendees that VG refers to are not in our customer group or target group, and they will not be able to buy clothes from us without the consent of their guardians.”

Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe has asked the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority to prioritize inspections of Russian companies this year.

– It is unacceptable when drunkards are exploited by businesses, Toppe said when the government announced an increased focus on drunken celebrations.

VG let the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority see the relevant videos from Russedress TV.

“We know that actors use various measures to create hype about themselves and the goods or services they offer, so we are not exactly surprised by what we see here,” writes Nina Elise Dietzel to VG.

“Those under 18 must not be exposed to marketing contrary to good marketing practice. In any case, there is a clear ban on alcohol advertising in the legislation,” emphasizes Dietzel.

“There are many players in the industry that it is appropriate for us to look into and have a dialogue with, and that includes large players such as Russedress.”

Managing director Knut Lyngstad of Russedress writes to VG that the company welcomes the consumer authorities’ announced focus on the Russian business.

“We are ready to contribute to this work. We think the minister knows as well as we do that the causes are complex, and that the solutions lie in changing attitudes and behaviour. Blaming us doesn’t solve the problem.”

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Lars Chr. Wegner

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