Photo: BYKVU
Red Bull might give you wings, but it doesn’t give you much common sense. In a shockingly bad move, Red Bull Ukraine went ahead and defied Kiev authorities and shot a commercial in a historic square. Even worse, the shoot damaged the site.
One of the to-go places in Kiev, Ukraine is Sofiyskaya Square with its Bohdan Khmelnytsky monument and distinctive clinker brick pavement. The latter will probably never be as it was, and it’s all thanks to Red Bull.
Kiev deputy mayor Kostyantyn Usov went on Facebook last week to call out Red Bull for being “a**holes” and openly defying city council’s decision to not allow them to shoot a commercial in the square. So, at 6 a.m., without proper authorization and as much as minimal safety measures for pedestrians, they sent two cars drifting in the square, while they shot their footage.
Usov also posted video of the cars drifting around the Khmelnytsky monument, dark tracks clearly visible on the clinker brick pavement. According to local media outlet BYKVU, Red Bull Ukraine also posted videos and photos during the shoot, but all that content was immediately deleted when word got out that their request to film on site had been denied by authorities.
The refusal to allow the shoot was an understandable one: not only is Sofiyskaya Square a pedestrian area with high pedestrian traffic, but it’s a historic site recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. Red Bull damaged it by leaving drift marks on the yellow clinker bricks, with Usov estimating that some 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet) were damaged during the stunt.
Red Bull Ukraine would not comment on the snafu but, one day after it happened, Red Bull people were spotted on site, trying to wash off the tire marks. The same media outlet reports that one of the drivers involved was pro Oleksandr Grynchuk, while Ukrainian rap artist Alyona Alyona was sat in the passenger seat of one of the cars.
A police investigation is now underway, with Red Bull facing charges of disorderly conduct. Meanwhile, authorities are trying to calculate the exact damage caused.
Kiev deputy mayor Kostyantyn Usov went on Facebook last week to call out Red Bull for being “a**holes” and openly defying city council’s decision to not allow them to shoot a commercial in the square. So, at 6 a.m., without proper authorization and as much as minimal safety measures for pedestrians, they sent two cars drifting in the square, while they shot their footage.
Usov also posted video of the cars drifting around the Khmelnytsky monument, dark tracks clearly visible on the clinker brick pavement. According to local media outlet BYKVU, Red Bull Ukraine also posted videos and photos during the shoot, but all that content was immediately deleted when word got out that their request to film on site had been denied by authorities.
The refusal to allow the shoot was an understandable one: not only is Sofiyskaya Square a pedestrian area with high pedestrian traffic, but it’s a historic site recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. Red Bull damaged it by leaving drift marks on the yellow clinker bricks, with Usov estimating that some 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet) were damaged during the stunt.
Red Bull Ukraine would not comment on the snafu but, one day after it happened, Red Bull people were spotted on site, trying to wash off the tire marks. The same media outlet reports that one of the drivers involved was pro Oleksandr Grynchuk, while Ukrainian rap artist Alyona Alyona was sat in the passenger seat of one of the cars.
A police investigation is now underway, with Red Bull facing charges of disorderly conduct. Meanwhile, authorities are trying to calculate the exact damage caused.
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