ABOUT
THE BOOK

The collapse of the Soviet Union has opened up a vast market, ripe for exploitation. Everybody wants a bit of the action. But how do you sell things to a generation that grew up with just one brand of cola? Enter Tatarsky, a lowly shop assistant, who discovers a hidden talent for devising home-grown alternatives to Western ads. Soon Russian television is ablaze with new slogans: ‘Do it yourself, Motherfucker!’ for trainers, and ‘Gucci for Men- Be a European, Smell Better!’
Tatarsky is propelled into a world of gangsters, spin-doctors and drug dealers, fuelled by cocaine and hallucinogenic mushrooms. But as his fortunes soar, reality loosens its grip, old certainties crumble. Who is the boss – man, or his television set? When advertisers talk about ‘twisting reality’, do they mean it quite literally? Can Tatarsky trust the analysis of advertising communicated by the spirit of the late Che Guevera? And exactly what does go on at the Institute of Apiculture?