Branded 2012

In the early 1980s, under the shadowed skies of the Soviet Union, a young man named Misha Galkin encounters a strange omen: he stares up at the stars as they shift into a cow-shaped constellation that seems to watch him back, and moments later a bolt of lightning strikes him. A woman who tends to him afterward proclaims that his life will be “interesting,” a prophecy that threads through the years as he builds a remarkable talent for understanding people and selling ideas. This gift propels him into the world of marketing, where he emerges as a powerful strategist who navigates the delicate balance between persuasion and social consequence.

As Misha climbs the ladder of influence, he crosses paths with Bob Gibbons, an American brought in to plant Western brands in a post-Communist Russia. The relationship between Misha and Bob grows complicated when Bob’s niece, Abby, visits from the United States and becomes entangled with Misha’s ambitions and ideals. Against Bob’s wishes, they begin a romance, and their conversations soon turn to the deeper history of modern marketing. Misha argues that Lenin laid the groundwork for what advertising would become—a global brand in its own right—and he suggests that Communism, in its own way, pioneered a form of corporate reach that would redefine identities, desires, and economies on a planetary scale. Amid these intimate and philosophical tensions, a parallel plan unfolds on a faraway Polynesian island, where Joseph Pascal—a marketing guru of formidable presence—meets with fast-food executives to explore new ways of recapturing profit and influence for the industry. The dialogue on beauty, body norms, and mass perception foreshadows a broader collision between commerce and culture.

Misha’s next assignment brings him into the glare of a provocative reality show called Extreme Cosmetica. He is hired to promote a broadcast in which an overweight woman will undergo plastic surgery in a bid to become thin. The venture spirals quickly: after the first operation, the contestant slips into a coma, the public mood darkens, and the show—along with the glorification of a thin ideal—faces fierce backlash. Misha becomes the public face of the controversy, the scapegoat who is blamed for the disaster as protesters swarm the streets, and even the police discipline him. He is arrested, spends time in jail, and upon his release he confronts Bob with the uncomfortable truth that the show and its coma-like catastrophe were manipulated by powerful fast-food interests, including a brand named “The Burger.” Bob dismisses the accusation, arguing that coordinating such a plan would demand resources beyond reach. A violent confrontation leaves Bob in poor health with a heart attack, and Misha, overwhelmed by guilt over the consequences of his work, abandons Moscow and withdraws from modern life, convinced that his marketing prowess is a personal curse rather than a gift.

Over six years, the campaign that celebrated “fat is fabulous” takes hold, reshaping society’s ideals and saturating advertising with images of overweight consumers. In this era of altered norms, Misha experiences a troubling vision—an imagined Red Heifer ritual, with a red cow sacrificed and ashes bathing his mind. When he awakens, he discovers something new and frightening: spectral beings that embody the cravings and brand desires now cling to people’s necks, visible only to him. The once-hidden mechanisms of consumer culture begin to materialize around him as a kind of spectral ecosystem that only he can perceive.

Abby eventually tracks Misha to a rural village where he has chosen a quiet, almost ascetic life as a cowherd. She persuades him to return to Moscow to meet in a shared apartment, where she reveals startling news: Bob has left Abby a substantial inheritance, and their six-year-old son—overweight and fond of junk food brands—exists in the world they once shaped. Distressed by his visions and disgusted by the rampant commercialism surrounding him, Misha acts impulsively, destroying Abby’s apartment in a moment of volatile emotion. Abby is frightened by his behavior and leaves, taking their son with her as she seeks safety and stability for him.

Driven by a stubborn desire to counteract the very forces he helped unleash, Misha devises a counteroffensive that uses the branding tactics against their own technique. He returns to his former company and weaponizes fear-based marketing to destabilize the world’s major brands. The campaign targets the most influential players—starting with a fear-driven anti-beef movement that drives customers away from The Burger and toward a new vegetarian option, a Chinese restaurant chain called Dim Song. The symbolic struggle between the branding creatures intensifies as they clash across the city, destroying one another’s influence in a surreal, almost mythic battlefield. Public opinion shifts: advertising falls under suspicion, and the Russian parliament begins to consider a broad ban on all advertising, signaling a radical rethinking of commerce.

In a quiet, intimate moment, Misha leaves a message on Abby’s phone, asking for forgiveness. She eventually reaches his office, only for the building to be swept by anti-advertising protesters who strike at the employees and disrupt the space. In the chaos, Misha is struck on the head while trying to escape with Abby and their son. A television emergency broadcast announces that Russia and other nations have reached an agreement to ban advertising, while Misha lies injured on the floor.

Some time later, Misha regains consciousness in a hospital room where he plays with Abby and their son, a fragile reminder of what was lost and perhaps what could still be saved. In the same hospital, the awake contestant from Extreme Cosmetica rises and wanders into the streets to witness a striking scene: an advertisement-free Moscow, a skyline cleared of billboards, and a future where visibility and commerce have been redefined. The final image lingers on a city reimagined through restraint, where the power to persuade is tempered by the consequences it has wrought on lives, communities, and the very fabric of modern society. This is a tale that unfolds at the intersection of dream, addiction, and accountability, where one man’s gift becomes a questions of responsibility for a world saturated with branding.