Stoli's CEO, Val Mandeleev, finally released a statement as the vodka boycott against the brand continues.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he states that the protest is wrong. While the vodka's ingredients originate from Russia, he discusses that the country has no control over the brand. He further shares that over the years, the brand has supported the LGBT community- one of its top consumers.
Calling the boycott as "totally unfair", Mandeleev calls out to the gay community: "We fully support and endorse your objectives to fight against prejudice in Russia. In the past decade, SPI has been actively advocating in favor of freedom, tolerance and openness in society, standing very passionately on the side of the LGBT community and will continue to support any effective initiative in that direction".
He also recalls the brand producing a documentary in 2006 called Be Real: Stories from Queer America and "In search of LGBT ambassadors for the brand, Stoli has been holding a series of events in U.S. cities since July 9 called the Most Original Stoli Guy."
Mandeleev explains that he, along Yuri Scheffler- the owner of SPI group to which Stoli is under, are "ex-Russian" and are not affiliated with the Russian government whatsoever. It is "privately owned by SPI Group, headquartered in Luxembourg in the heart of Western Europe." In fact, the brand is in legal dispute against the government. He goes on to say that the company has no distillery operating in the country that employs "several hundred" Russians.
The vodka boycott began in light of the Russian Parliament expressing its unwavering support for anti-gay rights, one that bans the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations around minors". The law was implemented last month by the country's president, Vladimir Putin.
Val Mandeleev states that the company are in the works of finding a charity that will help the LGBT community in its battle against Russia's anti-gay movement.
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
