Lithuania just made a total “freedom fries” move. Just as America was mad at France and changed the name of french fries to “freedom fries” during the Bush era, Lithuanians are mad at Russia for what it sees as Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. So an enterprising clique of Lithuanians have gone ahead and changed the Russian patriotic symbol to a bug. Point made.
Russia’s stance on the Ukraine crisis frightens many Lithuanians, who are understandably concerned that President Vladimir Putin could come for them next, given that their country is similarly full of ethnic Russians. Fear of a Soviet takeover has spurred anti-Russian sentiment in the country and, apparently, a group of Lithuanian activists to target random household items.
Exclusive to stores that pay locally televised Russian TV channels to run their advertisements, the activists—who may originate from the Facebook group “Do Not Buy Kremlin Propaganda”—are slapping milk, cleaning products and delicious treats with stickers featuring the Colorado potato beetle. The beetle, with its orange and brown stripes, happens to look exactly like the Russian patriotic symbol highly favored by the separatists in eastern Ukraine, the Ribbon of St. George.
The ribbon is strongly associated throughout Russia with the country’s victorious win over Germany in World War II. In fact, “Colorado” has come to be an offensive term that pro-Ukrainian fighters use against Ukrainian separatists because of the visual similarities between the ribbon and the beetle. Just look:
Photos from Lithuanian supermarkets that captured the results of this wry guerrilla campaign began circulating around Jan. 3 on Facebook and VKontakte, the leading Russian social network, and picked up steam earlier this week.
Sporting the stickers, one could say the items had been masterfully “freedom fried,” Lithuanian-style.
“Do Not Buy the Kremlin Propaganda” wrote on their Facebook page why they went ahead with this giant sticker-bombing endeavor: “Products advertised on Russian channels were marked with Colorado stickers to show that those products support the aggression of the Kremlin’s propaganda.
We hope that these actions will make it clear to entrepreneurs that honest Lithuanians don’t support the Russian propaganda, and therefore they should avoid watching ads on Russian channels.”
Many Lithuanians welcomed the anti-Russian initiative on social media. A large contingent of Ukrainians, who are hopeful the campaign will spread to their country, also voiced their support.