"You have neither taste nor sophistication”: TV advertising in Russia as a new social phenomenon and its perception by the elder generation of Russians, 1990-1995

The article discusses the special role of television advertising in forming a new mass culture in the first half of the 1990s, as well as the reception of television advertising by the elder generation of Russians. The author seeks to answer a number of questions: what was the first television advertising in Russia and how was it "embedded" in the cultural context of post-Soviet society? How did the "Soviet" generation perceive TV advertising? To what extent did their cultural experience come into conflict with a new cultural and social phenomenon of TV advertising? What was the degree of trust of the "Soviet" generation to the first advertising on television in the early 90s? How were they influenced by it? The author concludes that in 1990-1995, there was a cultural conflict in the sphere of communication between the elder generation of Russians and TV advertising. The reason is that the advertising of that time did not take into account the former Soviet cultural and historical models of behavior and way of thinking, which were carried by the "Soviet" generation. However, despite that, the content of the correspondence to the TV centre "Ostankino" also indicates that TV advertising did not just irritate the Russian TV audience, but it solved the issue of secondary socialization for the elder generation.