Russian Anti-Gay Laws Have Sparked A Boycott on Stoli Vodka- But It’s A Mistake!

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Russian Anti-Gay Laws Have Sparked A Boycott on Stoli Vodka, but it’s A Mistake and here is WHY:

More than 10 years ago, the Russian government seized control of the Stoli brand away from us and forced us out of the country.  Since then we have been fighting them tooth and nail in courts around the world to maintain control of our brand as they try to take it away from us. The boycott will have no effect on the Russian Government at all. In fact they are probably pleased this is happening to us.

 I clearly understand the good intentions behind this campaign. But by targeting Stoli, they are targeting the wrong people. We have proudly supported the LGBT community around the world as both a sponsor of events and programs as well as through donations to non-profit organizations.  We have publicly condemned the Russian Government’s discriminatory attitude and actions targeting the LGBT community in Russia. –  Val Mendeleev (CEO SPI Group) *Forbes

Do you recall a time when people hated Americans… because George W. Bush was a dumbass?  Do you ever recall saying to a foreigner, “No No… We hate him too.” or how about… “I didn’t vote for him”…Or was I the only person who said that???

Boycotting Stoli vodka for an evil government, is like the entire school picking on ‘the kid THE BULLY Picked On’ in grade school… to prove a point… to the bully.

That doesn’t even make sense!!!

Stoli Vodka makes great VODKA… NOT ridiculous government RULES.

Listen – – I started marketing THIS SYSTEM so I could generate passive income whilst drinking Stoli On The Rocks at night and sleeping in tell I felt like waking up in the morning.  And the fact that my gay bars are pulling my favorite vodka because other gay bars are pulling it to prove a ‘mute’ point only supports that not enough people do their research.

Stoli Vodka makes great VODKA… NOT ridiculous government RULES.

I invite you to open your mind this article and share it with everyone you know, so that we don’t cause damage to the fantastic brand of Stolichnaya… who has only love for the GLBT Community.

Here’s some ‘booze for thought’ – Are you going to stop drinking Jack Daniels because OUR OWN Government via the National Security Agency (NSA), has been Spying on US (American Citizens) as revealed with the Edward Snowden Leaks?
My guess is No!!!  Because that doesn’t even make sense… Right?

¡¡¡EXACTLY!!!

What I’m saying is – – If we really want to make a difference in regards to saying “F**k You Russia” – Wouldn’t it be smarter if the United States Boycotted the 2014 Winter Olympics?  It would defiantly be safer for America’s little Princess, Johnny Weir!

I mean… come on …if Putin is telling the truth and will be arresting anyone for just looking gay, Johnny Weir is going to get pickup as soon as he steps off the plane.

…Be sure to ‘pack’ a lot of Eros… Johnny!

The truth of the matter is that the GLBT Community in Russia and a lot of countries across the globe (USA Included) is in a sad state of ‘equality’… Period.

If we target/punish Stoli Vodka for the actions Russian Government …that will do nothing more than punish the innocent.

In the US, the brand’s commitment to the LGBT community has been ongoing for years. Among the best examples, I can cite the series produced by Stoli in 2006 called “Be Real: Stories from Queer America” which featured short documentaries on real life stories depicting the challenges and accomplishments of the LGBT community in the United States

Stoli is very proud of its current exclusive national partnership with Gaycities.com and Queerty.com in search of the Most Original Stoli Guy. This is a fantastic program that started as a local initiative in Colorado and became a national platform. Previous national initiatives included serving as the official vodka of the Miami Gay Pride Week as well as ongoing events with focus on Pride month.

Some great examples from other parts of the world are the support to the Durban Gay Pride, in South Africa, the Pride Parade in Vienna, in cooperation with HOSI and CT, the largest LGBT communities in Austria and the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, taking place this weekend. –  Val Mendeleev (CEO SPI Group) *Stoli.com

Please let your local gay bars know that instead of boycotting Stoli Vodka… you would rather help them raise money to donate large sums to the HRC… so that THEY can continue to crack down on the mass ignorance that is right on our back yard… the fact that there are still 36 states IN OUR OWN CONTRY… that do not support gay marriage.

To be continued…

I’m Michael Leedy