WHY “MINISTRY OF TRUTH” IS WASTING TENS OF MILLIONS OF HRYVNIA

Ihar Tyshkevich, the expert of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, for “Hvylya (“Хвиля”)

The Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine has announced its intention to conduct an advertising campaign promoting Ukraine in the largest international media. According to the speakers of the Ministry, it will be aimed at promoting Ukrainian cities “as attractive for tourism and investments”. The declared amount – 26 million hryvnia – does not seem to be too big, because advertising aimed at promoting countries is expensive, very expensive. I can admit, I was glad to read first paragraphs of the information report. But the longer I read, the more questions were arising: the positive reaction was replaced by surprise, and final phrases of the small text were difficult to read because of the explosions of laughter. Perhaps I am wrong in my assessments, but the presented approach to advertising the country is hard to perceive without having smile on face.