In Russia, Valentine's Day Is for Making Babies by Kirsten Salyer, Bloomberg
This Valentine's Day in Russia, do your patriotic duty and make a baby.
That's the message from President Vladimir Putin, who has invited the trio Boyz II Men to perform in Moscow on Feb. 6 as part of an effort to raise the country's birth rate. The group will sing romantic ballads, "hopefully giving Russian men some inspiration ahead of St. Valentine's Day," according to the Moscow Times.
Putin meme accountability watch: No, he did not hire Boyz II Men to make Russians have sex by Joshua Keating, Foreign Policy
You may have seen via social media today that the Moscow Times is reporting that Vladimir Putin has hired Boyz II Men to play a concert in Moscow as part of a campaign to encourage Russians to procreate and raise the country's flaggin birth rate. This is not true. More precisely, it may or may not be true but it hasn't been "reported" by anyone.
In Russia, Valentine’s Day Is for Making Babies
ReplyDeleteby Kirsten Salyer
Bloomberg View
The Ticker
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/in-russia-valentine-s-day-is-for-making-babies.html
This Valentine’s Day in Russia, do your patriotic duty and make a baby.
That’s the message from President Vladimir Putin, who has invited the trio Boyz II Men to perform in Moscow on Feb. 6 as part of an effort to raise the country’s birth rate. The group will sing romantic ballads, “hopefully giving Russian men some inspiration ahead of St. Valentine’s Day,” according to the Moscow Times. (Update: Putin “may or may not” have invited the band, as Foreign Policy reports. His campaign for more Russian babies, however, is longstanding.)
Russia isn’t the only country that has tested creative ways to get its citizens in the mood. Falling fertility rates mean more elderly and fewer young people, causing economic pressure from diminishing labor and less tax revenue. And though baby-making marketing efforts are no substitute for addressing existing deterrents to having children in some countries, such as the high cost of child care and education, that hasn’t kept officials from trying.
Putin’s latest effort is part of Russia’s ongoing (and occasionally eccentric) fertility campaign. In 2007, officials declared Sept. 12 the “Day of Conception” and gave couples time off work to procreate. If they had a baby exactly nine months later, the country’s national day, they could win money, a car or a refrigerator.
In Singapore, which had a 2012 fertility rate of 0.78, Mentos mints sponsored a three-minute video on the country’s national day last August, encouraging citizens to celebrate “National Night,” too. A man in the video raps: “Singapore’s population, it needs some increasin’, so forget waving flags, August 9th we be freaking.”
A few years ago in Japan, which had a fertility rate of 1.39 in 2012, university students created Yotaro, a giggling robot baby to encourage couples to want kids. In South Korea, where some estimates suggest almost 40 percent of the population will be 65 or older by midcentury, the Ministry of Heath created a monthly “Family Day” in 2010 by turning off the office lights at 7 p.m. and encouraging employees to “go home to their families and, well, make bigger ones,” as BBC wrote.
Regardless of whether these not-so-subtle campaigns produce more babies, they are reminders of the long-term implications of demographic shifts. And, let’s be honest, sex sells, whether the goal is a higher birth rate or more radio listeners. Last week WBEZ, a public radio station in Chicago, Illinois, began an advertising campaign with the slogan: “We Want Listeners Tomorrow. Go Make Babies Today.”
Инспекция мемов о Путине показывает: нет, Путин не нанимал группу Boyz II Men для того, чтобы побудить россиян заняться сексом
ReplyDeleteInoPressa
http://www.inopressa.ru/article/01feb2013/foreignpolicy/putin_boys.html
Возможно, вы прочли в соцсетях, будто Путин нанял группу Boyz II Men сыграть концерт в рамках кампании, конечная цель которой – повышение рождаемости в России, пишет журналист Джошуа Китинг в блоге The Passport на сайте журнала Foreign Policy. Новость распространяется со ссылкой на статью The Moscow Times, но не соответствует действительности, подчеркивает автор: ни одно издание ничего подобного не сообщало.
“Мы в Passport любим безумные истории о Путине не меньше, чем любит их все человечество (наверно, даже больше). Но, когда о российском президенте выдумывают байки, мы обязаны их разоблачать”, – замечает автор.
Китинг старается разобраться, “откуда ноги растут” у этой истории. По его мнению, все началось с фразы, которую написала журналистка The Moscow Times Лена Смирнова, предваряя интервью музыкантов Boyz II Men. “Крестовый поход президента Владимира Путина за повышение рождаемости в стране будет поддержан тремя мощными голосами: баритоном и двумя тенорами”. Далее Смирнова выражала надежду, что романтические баллады, исполненные Boyz II Men на концерте в Москве, “вдохновят российских мужчин накануне Дня Св.Валентина”.
Очевидно, Смирнова вовсе не имела в виду, будто Путин нанял Boyz II Men. Но некий блоггер из MediaBistro написал: “по сообщению The Moscow Times”, московский концерт “станет частью пиар-кампании Путина, призывающей россиян рожать больше детей, чтобы страна сделалась “влиятельнее”. И пошло-поехало, пишет Китинг.
Блоггер религиозного журнала First Things решил прочесть нотацию: “Если Путин действительно хочет повысить рождаемость в России, пусть для начала поборет коррупцию и простимулирует открытые, транспарентные рынки”.
Со своей стороны, Китинг взывает к журналистам: “Ребята, если мы будем сочинять байки о Путине, это ударит по правдивым историям”.
Putin meme accountability watch: No, he did not hire Boyz II Men to make Russians have sex
ReplyDeleteby Joshua Heating
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/01/31/putin_meme_accountability_watch_no_he_did_not_hire_boyz_ii_men_to_make_russians_hav
You may have seen via social media today that the Moscow Times is reporting that Vladimir Putin has hired Boyz II Men to play a concert in Moscow as part of a campaign to encourage Russians to procreate and raise the country’s flaggin birth rate. This is not true. More precisely, it may or may not be true but it hasn’t been “reported” by anyone.
Here at Passport, we love a good wacky Vladimir Putin story as much as the next guy (Okay, probably more than the next guy) but when people are just making things up about the Russian president, we have an obligation to call bullshit.
It all started when Moscow Times reporter Lena Smirnova decided to put a cheeky lede on her interview with the ’90s-era slow-jam masters, who have an upcoming concert in Moscow:
President Vladimir Putin’s crusade to raise the country’s birth rate is set to get the support of three powerful voices on its behalf.
A baritone and two tenors, that is.
The stylish trio of Boyz II Men, the most successful R&B group of all time, is coming to Moscow on Feb. 6. The group will perform a selection of their classic and new romantic ballads, hopefully giving Russian men some inspiration ahead of St. Valentine’s Day.
Very clever! But it’s obvious from the context, and the fact that it’s never mentioned again, the Smirnova is in no way suggesting that Putin actually hired Boyz II Men for this purpose. Boyz II Men and many other groups frequently perform in the Russian capital without the president’s involvement.
But one blogger at MediaBistro read it a bit differently, writing:
While the Boyz claim to be very busy working on their Las Vegas hotel residency and their upcoming tour with New Kids on the Block and 98 Degrees (stay out of it, Nick Lachey!), they still managed to find time to headline a February show in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall which–according to The Moscow Times–will serve as part of Putin’s ongoing PR campaign urging Russians to have more kids so the country can be more “influential.”
No! The Moscow Times didn’t say that at all! A blogger for Britain’s Telegraph then got a hold of the story, writing that “The Times insists that the band will be lending their “powerful voices” to Putin’s fertility campaign”. It was off to the races from there.
Vanity Fair cites both the Telegraph and the Moscow Times, writing that “the group will support Putin’s crusade just before Valentine’s Day by performing a February 6th concert of romantic ballads in the capital city” and comparing it to other Putin fertility schemes.
A blogger for the religion and spirituality magazine First Things takes a moralizing tone, writing:
“One assumes that the aim of the concert is to help childbearing seem more appealing among Russians who take their cues from popular culture. I doubt, though, that it will be even narrowly helpful…..If Putin really wants to raise Russia’s birthrate, then, he should start by battling corruption and fostering open, transparent markets. Boyz II Men can come second.”
I would completely agree if this story were actually something more than “Boyz II Men is playing a concert in Russia and a reporter made a sex joke.”
Guys, if we make up fictional Putin stories, it only diminishes the real ones.