Public Sector Communications Aimed at Opening a «Spiral of Silence» for Excisable Goods Online Distribution Promotion

The area studied in this paper, the remote sale of excisable goods (primarily alcohol), is highly relevant for several reasons. Firstly, despite the de jure ban on the remote sale of alcohol, there is a de facto shadow market, which grew by 40% in 2023 alone and reached 30 billion rubles. Secondly, the functioning of the shadow market leads to a large number of deaths and cases of severe poisoning with counterfeit alcohol – in 2020 alone, 10,206 people died due to accidental alcohol poisoning in Russia. The problem of the study lies in the contradictory positions of key stakeholders regarding the remote sale of alcohol in Russia. Despite the fact that all stakeholders have common goals in the form of reducing the consumption of strong and counterfeit alcohol, as well as protecting the health of Russians and minimizing the number of crimes, their positions on this issue differ. The purpose of the study is to identify the positions of key stakeholders of the draft law on the remote sale of alcohol in Russia and develop a communication strategy to achieve consensus between them. The theoretical basis of the research is the model of the "spiral of silence" by Elizabeth Noel-Newman, as well as the stakeholder theory. The work uses case study methods, analysis of documents and media materials, as well as qualitative content analysis. The empirical basis of the study consists of regulatory legal acts of foreign countries and Russia in the field of trade in excisable goods, as well as statements and interviews of foreign and Russian representatives of government authorities in the media. The practical significance of the study is to develop a communication strategy with government authorities on the issue of remote alcohol trading in Russia.