Business Nudes - Russian Style

Russia Today: http://www.russiatoday.com/features/news/35536

January 2, 2009, 10:50
Business nudes: Pirelli tradition heads east
With pulses racing due to the New Year festivities, one Russian company has decided to celebrate by printing a raunchy new calendar which features its staff stripping off.
When at work Elena looks like a tight-laced assistant. Shes precise when making appointments and is homely when serving tea to her boss. Aleksandra, on the other hand, is a busy lawyer and Irina is a translator of Chinese, happy to put anyone to shame with her linguistic talents, but what has really amazed the customers of shipping company 'Sovfracht' was their 2009 corporate calendar, in which all the female staff stripped.

Our colleague was going to be in this picture, but refused to get naked. So I came out and said: I can do it!" said Aleksandra Chaadaeva, the company's lawyer. "My friend Nastya took up the idea - well, if she can do it I can do it too! We both took off our clothes and let off some steam!

All in all, 15 girls posed for the 12 pages of the calendar. They were dipped in chocolate, slathered each other with black caviar and posed inside a shower cubicle - all tried-and-tested favourites, which the photographers gleefully used for saucy snaps.

The head of the company, which has an annual turnover of $US 900 million, is the man behind the idea, but he says hes not afraid the calendar might tarnish their business reputation.

I remember the day when I first saw an old Pirelli calendar in my provincial town. Only those who worked abroad could get such a rarity, said Dmitry Purim. Then the idea of making such a calendar became attractive. Now that I run Sovfracht I decided my girls were just as good as Pirelli's. So instead of flirting with them at work we gave them an opportunity to express themselves this way.

The Pirelli calendar was indeed a trailblazer, making the worlds top models bare all for calendars. The first shoot was in 1964 and since then nobody really seems to care that companys main produce is tyres. Since then Pirelli became better-known for its high-quality glamour photography calendars, and Russian companies have followed in their footsteps.

Mikhail Korolyov, the photographer behind the shoot says the company paid a pretty penny, but says it's not the first time he's received such a commission.




Ive had similar experiences before. This seems to be a new Russian tradition," he said. "Its obvious to me for example that by setting up such projects corporate bosses create new work places. And this is good for everyone, actually.

Elsewhere in the West similar calendars are produced as an effective charity booster. Marks & Spencer and the BBC are just a few companies whose staff has taken it all off to raise money for those in need.

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