During the Soviet era, also known as the era of the “Metal Curtain”, Armenians used to buy foreign products and clothes from people who came to Armenia from abroad or from some shops in Moscow, Armenians used to love the “Adidas” brand name sportswear; the favorite cassette recorder was the “Tri Semjoriki SHARP” and the most favorite refrigerator was “Rozenlive”. Since not all Armenians had access to these products, the lower level of society would prefer the “Cebo” shoes, Finnish suits and French perfume. It was during the Soviet period that Armenians started producing Pepsi-Cola and Armenian chewing gums to compete with the American Coca-Cola and chewing gum companies. Later, Armenians started selling the “Adidas” sneakers in Eghvard city. This means that the Soviets couldn’t evade imported products and used to bring different things.
After the Soviet era, when Armenians understood that the Armenian “Jermuk” and “Molybdenum” were only enough for the company owners to earn a living, they started thinking of creating their own brands. It was then when they started creating new Armenian brands. First, Armenians started changing the names of their children and their pets. Nevertheless, since names usually repeat, they were not able to be unique in the world. In addition, they started adding endings to the Armenian names. For instance, FERO consists of the first two letters of Felix and Robert. Following those changes they started founding concerns such as “Dvin concern”, “SIL concern”, etc. After a while, they founded “ALM” holding. Armenians always politicize everything, including brands. Of course politicians have not named their parties after the names of their children, but please pay attention to those names; for instance, “Prosperous Armenia”, “Rule of Law”, “Powerful Fatherland”, ULP, PDF, etc. Furthermore, they have managed to change the brands, for instance, “Armat” has become “Ailyntrank”. As for changing brands, it has happened often.
However, I must say that Armenians have the most interesting nicknames in the world. Our countrymen have not understood yet that Chirac is not a city, but a surname. They haven’t understood that “weed” is not something to smoke, but it is a foreign surname. Furthermore, they haven’t understood that “Bush” is a surname, but not something else.
Now, let’s try to find out what similarities the brands of Armenian parties have with other famous brands. For instance, the ARF is like “Coca-Cola” because it is “always”. Stepan Demirchyan is Fero, because people have a long way to go with him. Geghamyan is like cheap TV that you can see in the market since he is a “fake” oppositionist. “Rule of Law” is like a mechanic tool that can have different shapes since the government can make them wider or narrower whenever they want. “Prosperous Armenia” is like a watermelon that hasn’t been cut so far and we don’t know what is inside. “Republican Party” is like very big trousers since it has too many members. “New Times” is like a Russian patent of an American product since it wants to start color revolutions with Russian rules. ANM is like an antique souvenir since it is very beautiful, but no one needs it. The NDU and communists’ parties are like LEGO since the government can break it into pieces and then build as it wants whenever it wants. ULP is like the “Cosmos” football team in the Soviet period, which was famous with the fact that it had paid 6 million for Pele, as well as it had only one good player. Small parties are like trinkets since at first they are beautiful, but later people roll them and throw them away.
Anyway, I am optimistic and hope that the Armenian brand will look different in the future, and if it is not so famous as “Microsoft” or “Mercedes”, at least it may be as unique as the “Nairi” brandy.