By Ian Neubauer
Actor Sylvester Stallone, who made millions portraying US-Soviet hostility in his Cold War-era Rambo and Rocky films, has signed a million-dollar deal to promote a Russian vodka.
Russian vodka maker Synergy announced Friday (August 15) it had signed a 12-month $1.15-million deal with Stallone, who will appear in television and print advertisements for the vodka brand Russia Ice, Reuters reported.
The actor, whose great-grandmother Rosa Rabinovich was born in the former Soviet state of Ukraine, will reportedly advertise the product under the slogan: ‘There is a bit of Russian in all of us’.
"The advertising campaign concept was based on the fact that the actor has Russian roots," Synergy said in a statement.
Rambo III, which saw Stallone kill reams of Russian soldiers in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and Rocky IV, which saw Stallone humiliate a drug-cheating Russian boxer in a Moscow stadium, were banned in the former Soviet Union.