Russia Plans Crackdown on Foreign Words in Advertising

The Moscow Times reports on November 22, 2010 that the Russian authorities plan to eliminate all foreign words without Russian translation in advertising. The article states that some companies are registering their slogans as trademarks, because foreign words do not have to be translated if they are part of a registered brand name, trademark, service mark, or the name of a television or radio show.

Under the Russian law, the official language of the country must be used in advertising to reduce the chances of consumers being misled about the content of the advertisement or the product being advertised. English words like “sale” or “fitness center” may therefore soon be replaced by Russian equivalents or phonetic transliterations in the Cyrillic alphabet, the country’s official script.

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Source: The Moscow Times