The rpr.rs portal had a visible and unplanned increase in views from Friday after 13 p.m., thanks to President Aleksandar Vučić.
Namely, opening the Plum Fair in Osečina, he told that there is a church in Serbia in front of which six plums grow, but that they do not grow straight, towards the sky, but crookedly, in the direction of Kosovo. Interested in finding out which church it is with the strange plums, many googled and came to the beautiful legend about the Lazarica log church near Prolom spa, and also to the Radan Pusta Reka portal that published it.
It was the latest of numerous proofs that President Aleksandar Vučić is a god-given promoter. Whatever he launches, whether by accident or on purpose, it is - launched.
Croatia is without a doubt his advertising peak. It was scored as an own goal, but most of Serbia pretends not to have seen anything, and the Croats are doing great.
Somehow, right in the middle of the tourist season, revolted because he could not go to Jasenovac the way he wanted, President Vučić declared that he would never spend his summer on the Adriatic Sea. Then he repeated his position, supplementing it with reproaches for that part of the Serbs who now enjoy Rovinj, Dubrovnik and other Croatian toponyms that he disliked.
The result is the following: Serbian tourists in Croatia this year are 60 percent more than last year, and even a fifth more than the record year 2019. Or, an even more plastic example: on the day when Miloš Vučević, the mayor of Novi Sad and one of Vučić's loudest spokesmen, declared that he did not understand Serbian citizens vacationing in Croatia, around 13.500 Serbian guests were resting there.
The Croatian Sea was his unintentional advertisement, while the Haribo gummy candy was a very conscious one. This is how it was.
In June, while traveling to Bratislava, President Vučić posted a photo from the plane on his Instagram profile "Future of Serbia" and wrote: "An old German advertisement says 'Haribo makes children happy, but also adults', and so it is for me today, after this difficult, but on a successful day in Bratislava, it puts a smile on your face."
"Haribo" did not speak. I guess it was funny to them too, and the increase in turnover (I personally know that the boss of my self-service shop only bought gummy candies when she saw that Vučić liked them) is something that goes without saying in their business, so they didn't feel the need to react.
In the spring of 2019, enjoying the hospitality of a village family, the president recommended a boy under ten years old not to drink beer but to immediately switch to brandy. A year later, at the beginning of the pandemic, he advised the people that "where you put alcohol, the corona virus does not grow" and revealed that he thus found himself an excuse to drink a few more glasses a day.
Whether because of that unequivocal advertising message from Vučić or not, it was only in those days that "Simex" produced "Aleksandar Vučić" and "Andrej Vučić" brandy. It is a so-called personalized brandy, and it was ordered by the Serbian Progressive Party. It was not officially announced whether the Vučić brothers gave their consent for their name to appear on the brandy label, but it was not announced that they did not, and "Simex" from Subotica profited, it became part of the most powerful company in the country - the Serbian Progressive Party.
In the same way, spontaneously and in the "I'm just talking like that" style, as he advertised brandy, President Vučić also made a statement about the Istrian Malvasia in March of last year. In an interview with Sarajevo's Face TV, he said that it is "a bad wine that is good for nothing" and that it is "very disgusting and no one can drink it", as well as that Serbia produces incomparably better wines.
Thus, Istrian Malvasia, not by its own merits, became a brand that is talked about in the region. Rade Šerbedžija, guest on N1, presented a bottle of Istrian Malvasia to Jugoslav Ćosić at the end of the interview and said, "I love and drink Malvasia, I think it is one of the best wines." And I also like Serbian wines, especially red."
After that, Šerbedžija's gentlemanly gesture was commented on on social networks for days, with expressions of great affection for Malvasia.
President Vučić apologized at the end. "I made a big mistake in the interview, which I regret." "Not because I said what I don't think, I'm certainly not a big fan of Malvasia, but I have no right to insult the efforts and work of winemakers who work diligently to sell their product on the market," he said.
In those days, it was rumored in Belgrade that the Istrian Malvasia had become a treasure and a matter of prestige.
Would the president of Serbia be a good promoter even if he were only Aleksandar Vučić? This is, of course, a chicken-and-egg question, so it is intractable. After all, every politician must know at least a little how to impose his opinion on people, otherwise he would not be what he is. Therefore, it is not a matter of imposition but, of course, first of all, of opinion. And based on the examples mentioned in this text, and the way it is done.
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