A Russian man from St. Petersburg was apparently so furious about his wife’s frivolous attitude to the marital surname that he got a concrete track and cemented the salon of her car as a punishment.

As the story goes, an unnamed Russian wife changed her husband’s surname to “Vernaya” (“Loyal”) to get the prize of 50,000 rubles (about USD $874) through a local store promotion. Every person who matched the brand’s name (“Vernyj” for men and “Vernaya” for women) was presumably offered the cash prize.

According to Ahtuba TV that released the video, the unhappy husband was intending to make a present to his wife but her irresponsible approach to his family heritage filled the guy with rage. Thus, he hired a track and filled his spouse’s vehicle with concrete.

We reported previously about a similar promotion in Ukraine, where a mobile phone company asked users to change the name to Iphone Sim (“iPhone 7” in Ukrainian) to get the actual mobile phone as a prize, and there were plenty of people who immediately jumped on the opportunity. However, that offer and name changes were for real.

Other Ukrainians changed names to Darth Vader and Chewbacca to participate in local elections thorough a political party trying to capitalize on the famous Star Wars franchise.

True or fake?

MSN reported an eyewitness caught the incident on camera by chance.

However, Russian viewers were sceptical in their opinions about the concrete-filled car.

• Victory Slavskaya stated, “A rare idiot”, saying the husband punished himself, as it was his own gift.
• Sasha wondered whether the insurance company would pay for the damages.
• But the majority of users agreed it looked like a promotion by the store.
• Eirene Swan commented that the car was worth “cents”, further expressing her disbelief that anyone would “run to change her surname” for such a pitiful amount as 50,000 rubles. (The amount equals about 1.7 average monthly wages in Russia, so it’s not that miniscule.)

Did Ukrainian iPhone 7 name change campaign inspired authors of the viral video with the concrete track?

Crazy promotional videos are popular in Russia. If something out of the ordinary happens, the first thought of Russian citizens, “It’s done for PR”.

Examples include:

• Russian bride chained herself to a jewellery store to make her boyfriend marry her
• Cologne “Alexey” promotion

Weird attracts attention and gets YouTube views.

Thus, filling of a wife’s vehicle with cement without any interruption from the police or administration of the supermarket, in front of which it all occurs, does seem like “fake news”. Notes on YouTube highlighted, “The car is still in front of the shop”. According to Rosstat, St. Petersburg’s population is over 5.2 million, which would bring enough curious visitors to the store and create some notoriety.

Video: A Russian wife’s car is filled with concrete by an angry husband

Decide for yourself: True or fake?

In the video a passerby asks in Russian what the guy is doing, and the man explains that he is going to fill the maroon sedan with concrete for the spouse’s immature attitude regarding her marital surname. The enraged husband even offers to the person to wait until the wife is back to pick the vehicle.

The action happens in front of the supermarket “Vernyj”.

Photo: Screenshot