Top(-less) Managers

Against the backdrop of opulent store counters, a young woman offers her clients a "wide array of products" with her underpants dangling around her knees.

The topic at hand is bank accounts, of course. What else? And the girl isn't some anonymous model, but rather the head economist at the VIP Client Services Department at a major Moscow bank. Her name and position are clearly decipherable right there on the bank's 2008 company calendar.

In addition to secretaries and specialists, even the chairman's adviser is featured in the photos – the top manager herself. Ambiguous slogans accompany the photos: "Your wish is our desire" and "We've always got a hot proposal."

According to the bank's press service, the wife of the company director managed the photo shoots. She is a professional photographer.

"It was a perfect move -- right on the nose," bank employees told KP. "Everyone who received the company calendar as a gift was pleasantly surprised. Of course, there is a flip side to the coin. Some German was pestering us for several days. He kept asking for our employee's contact details. He said that he had seen her photo in the calendar and fallen in love. Professionally speaking, our employees aren't any worse off from having participated. Everyone who decided not to take part was really upset afterwards."

Erotic corporate publicity materials appeared in Russia several years ago. But they weren't meant for the wider public -- only for partners and VIP clients. Thanks to the Internet and all its fine attributes, however, it wasn't long before mainstream viewers had access. It's as easy as typing in several keywords in Yandex to discover the whole naked truth about Russian business.

The Zeldis pharmacological company decided to take the simple route with their erotic calendar. As opposed to using ornate decorations for their photo shoots, they went with plain old office furniture.

The calendar's cover sports PR and Advertising Director Nikita El Bystrov in the nude, wearing nothing more than a guitar. Bystrov is the only male top manager on record to have taken part in a Russian erotic corporate calendar photo shoot.

"Why on the cover? Certainly not because I think that I'm the most beautiful. I was actually the only model to be 'brushed up' on the computer. I thought that I would help the brand to become popular," Bystrov said. "The calendar really lends us a hand in making contacts. We have branches in many cities, so many employees only know each other by voice on the phone. Now the general directors at our branches are meeting our head office's female reps 'face-to-face' for the first time through our calendar. It's pure, natural human interest."

"We won't spare our reputation for the sake of our corporate well-being"

Zeldis' calendar had a circulation of 10,000 copies and cost 180,000 rubles to produce. Half the expenses was printing costs. The other half was the photographer's fee. Bonuses were also given to the courageous employees. The young women had used their bodies honestly to earn a buck – 5,000 rubles each.

"We agreed on all the details with their husbands beforehand," said Natalya Sidrorova, commercial director ("Miss March" and "Miss June"). "I'm glad that I went ahead with the project. Our goal wasn't to use as much nudity as possible. We didn't want to be vulgar. I even hung my photo up at home."

Svetland Murchenko, manager of the Sales Department ("Miss April" and "Miss November"), said: "We put together a beauty week before the photo shoot: dieting, tanning and hair removal. Everyone who decided not to participate regretted it later when everything came out aesthetic and clean. And they almost didn't use any Photoshop. They initially promised to enlarge my bottom, but it wound up the same size as now. Of course, I have some admirers and rivals as a result. And sometimes you read some insulting stuff on the Internet. But one of the girls was asked several times to go out on a date."

The renowned Korbina Telekom telecommunications company also published an erotic calendar. The company used their department and subdivision heads as models, each who manage approximately 300 employees.

"We initially ordered 3,000 copies, but the calendar was so popular that we decided to increase the scale," said Mariya Shalina, director of the PR and Advertising Department. "We've had a lot of feedback on our Web site. We've been criticized by those who are allegedly in the know. We have our own heads, they say, transplanted on the models' bodies. It's doubly pleasant for us to be compared to models. The girls weren't paid. They're just employees. They all knew that what they were doing was to benefit the company's image."

Opinion "For"

It's fine when it's done with taste.

Gleb Kotov, Creative Director of the PR Agency Proekt-Media:

"A few years ago, the Media Markt electronic-goods chain distributed a brochure with naked middle-aged women who worked as their cashiers. They were charming and sexy, and it really worked. The company proved its character, openness and desire to see kindness, good, and sexuality where it's least expected. On rare occasions, when the employees and photographer are both good, a company can create the impression that it is courageous, stylish, and even open."

Opinion "Against"

Where there is porn, controversy is born...

Svetlana Kolosova, President of the Staraya Ploshchad consultancy group, Candidate of Psychology:

"There is a huge difference between the intention and the ultimate expression. This is why it works with some people, but more often than not it just openly rings of cheap sex advertisements like 'Call Me.' It should be understood that there are business sectors where these types of approaches aren't acceptable. These are spheres where the main capital is our trust, such as medicine, insurance and banking. If like [promo materials] are a plus for automobile distributors, then they are a big fat minus for others."

"I can't keep myself from criticizing Zeldis," Kolosova added. "More than anything else, I didn't like the fact that the young women in the calendar were true victims. They looked as if they had been badgered. It's easy to imagine how the management 'asked' them to take on this project, meaning 'no questions asked.' There is no presentation whatsoever. The calendar was put together on the run. There's no context -- only the shock factor. On the cover is a man, who is fully detached from the publication as opposed to the women inside. This clearly a male dominant product. The 'Sultan and His Slaves' interpretation does not tie in with today's realities at all, where smart and independent women make decisions for themselves and earn money. As long as these women are pretending to be brave, they'll say that they knew what they were doing. Later, the hullabaloo will wear off and they'll be left with the aftertaste. I'm sure many of them will regret the situation."

Календари представлены: компанией «Зельдис», автор Алексей ОЛЬХОВОЙ; компанией «Корбина», агентство «Plenum»; www.fishki.net

More photos in gallery Naked office.

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