Healthy life values representation in commercial advertising in Russia

The article deals with the specifics of representation of the healthy lifestyle values in commercial video ads in Russia. Several components of healthy lifestyle are highlighted, and analysis on their presentation in commercial advertisements is conducted. The main subjects of commercial video ads in terms of representation of the values of healthy lifestyle are: physical activity, mental discomfort and positive social interactions. The commercial videos are analyzed in the context of the relevance of the issues raised there to the state of the Russian society, and the analysis results are compared with the outcomes of sociological research and expert opinions. The article stresses that there is some disparity between the demand of Russian people for physical activities and the commercial video ads supply in this field. There are analyzed gender specifics in the representation of values of healthy lifestyle in commercial video ads. The authors come to a conclusion that commercial ads have an ambiguous effect on the spread of values of healthy lifestyle in the Russian society. On the one hand, using healthy lifestyle images in ads promotes popularization of the corresponding values in society. On the other hand, video ads’ images don’t always reflect the actual problems and demands of population, fixing in people consciousness not only self-preservative values.