The first shots of propaganda

Apparently, the first shots of election campaigns have begun to be heard on the RuNet. A few days ago, United Russia tried to post online its video “We are building a new Russia” with Vladimir Putin, which State Duma deputy Konstantin Rykov (@rykov) supported in his publications. And today on Twitter they were actively promoting the game “Upgrade your GDP”, presented by the previously non-public agency Agency1.

Apparently, the first shots of election campaigns have begun to be heard on the RuNet. A few days ago, United Russia tried to broadcast its video “ We are building a new Russia ” with Vladimir Putin online, which State Duma deputy Konstantin Rykov ( @rykov ) supported in his publications. And today on Twitter they were actively promoting the game “Upgrade your GDP”, presented by the previously non-public agency Agency1 .

According to the plot of the game, the user is invited to act as a prime minister who travels through government sites and saves Russia: supports AvtoVAZ, puts out fires, helps pensioners and kills terrorists in the toilet. The head of the Agency1 company, Alexander Kabakov, refuses the version of a “political order”, assuring that this virus was created exclusively for advertising the agency.

@Niketas: You just launched the game today, and in just a few hours more than 10,000 people have already played the game?

@a_kabakov: Yes, somehow it happened very quickly.

@Niketas: How is the name “Like Putin” translated into Russian? “Like Putin”, “Like Putin” or “Love Putin”?

@a_kabakov: Actually, the title involves a play on words, so it’s all together here: “like Putin” and “be like Putin.”

@Niketas: So anyone can become Putin for 5 minutes and “pump up the country’s GDP”? What is the message of the game?

@a_kabakov: (laughs) This is still a game. Probably, if you just play toys on the Internet, you won’t boost your GDP that much. The idea of ​​the game is to show how Vladimir Vladimirovich copes with various tasks.

Selfmade look of the head of Agency1

@Niketas: It turns out that the customer of the game is Vladimir Vladimirovich himself or one of his representatives?

@a_kabakov: No, we don’t have a customer. We would probably be happy. (grins) We did it, let’s say, for self-presentation. At the beginning of this year, a toy about Magnit ice cream was released (“Magnum Pleasure Hunt”, http://pleasurehunt.mymagnum.com/ - ed.), where the girl ran around on different sites. We also planned to do something similar, but in Russia. When we were thinking about how to make the game bright and provocative, we wanted to make Vladimir Vladimirovich our hero. From this everything was born.

@Niketas: Are you now trying to provoke the audience by making the game look like the beginning of an election PR campaign in support of Putin?

@a_kabakov: Why as the beginning? (grins)

@Niketas: Because there has never been anything like this on social networks about Putin.

@a_kabakov: I am very worried about the reaction from the authorities regarding this toy, but we chose Putin as the hero because, for example, there is already a lot of Medvedev on the Internet, and Putin is of greater interest to the Internet audience. Dmitry Anatolyevich can be added on Twitter, he is very active on the Internet, and Vladimir Vladimirovich is still poorly represented on the Internet. I think the reason the game sells so well is that people want to see Putin on the Internet.

@Niketas: If it sells so well, how quickly do you think information about the game will reach Putin and how will he react?

@a_kabakov: I don't know. I hope that if it comes to him, he will like it. (laughs)

@Niketas: How can you comment on the fact that in the game on the YouTube site layout, under the video of Putin singing " Blueberry Hill ", there are 4838 upvotes and no downvotes?

@a_kabakov: (laughs) Probably the designer chose this number. I think it’s because everyone is in favor! I didn't think anyone would notice it. It seems that now everyone will find a lot of different details in the game that we did not think about and did not put any meaning into them, and conspiracy theories and PR will begin.

@Niketas: Well, you know how the Internet works: everyone will start looking for hidden meaning in details, connections with intelligence services.

@a_kabakov: That was partly the goal: we wanted to provoke discussion, because this is the product of our agency. We wanted people to see what the Internet is and how it works.

#Scandal