There are hangovers and hangovers, but this man is really suffering. His three-day stubble testifies to a serious binge. One glance at his bleary eyes betrays the throbbing pain that is splitting his head, the roaring in his ears, his gut-wrenching nausea.


The man is staring at a television screen, seemingly transfixed by the image of a fresh-faced, healthy actor dissolving a pill in a glass of water and cheerily chatting about its magic impacts -- as though he needs it.


The man can take it no longer. Somehow, he staggers to his feet, lurches over to the television set, picks it up and, pressing his face to the screen, tilts his head back to pour the cure down his throat.


The commercial is being shown on national and independent television through the New Year's holiday, when it is assumed that Russians will be most susceptible to its message.


One might think that Russia, where hard drinking is an inalienable part of the national heritage and culture, would be the answer to any pharmaceutical company's prayer. That is indeed the view of Roman Sidnenko, marketing manager for the British firm Sterling Health, whose pill, Andrew's Answer, is featured in the commercial.


"Russia has certain traditions where the consumption of alcohol is concerned," Sidnenko said. "A medicine like this should find a market here."


But in fact, Sterling is only the second Western company attempting to take advantage of the millions of sore heads and churning stomachs that will require soothing over the next few days. The other is the German firm Bayer, the producer of Alka Seltzer, which has been available here since last year.


One reason for the apparent caution by the drug companies could be the tough competition their products face from Russian traditional hangover remedies. For however fertile Russian ground might seem, there is also a deeply ingrained suspicion of any foreign attempt to subvert or replace home cures tried and tested over centuries.


Opinions vary over what is the most reliable cure. Many people swear by rassol, the brine from pickled cucumbers or tomatoes. If you can keep it down, you're cured. If you can't, try and try again. A more wimpish variant is yogurt or kefir, a yogurt-like drink. Some swear by grapefruit juice, for others only beer will work -- Russian beer is apparently more effective than imported.


For the seasoned Russian drinker, however, the only reliable method is the hair of the dog that bit you, or "to cure like with like," meaning taking a good shot in the morning of the same stuff you hit so hard the night before. Some people scorn all such methods, preferring to tough it out. Others find it easier just to keep on drinking.


With all these alternatives around, Sterling has spared no expense to give Andrew's Answer the maximum boost. The commercial, filmed in Russia by the cameraman Georgy Rerberg, who worked with Andrei Tarkovsky on his film, Zerkalo, is just the start of a marketing campaign for the drug, deliberately launched at the start of the Christmas and New Year holiday season.


The company has also arranged free sampling of the pill at 20 of Moscow's drug stores, two liquor stores and at the Detsky Mir department store.


"Everyone gets a free pill, a leaflet and New Year's best wishes," said Sidnenko. He said that from next week, samples would also be available at 10 Moscow nightclubs.


It may be that the traditional remedies have had their day. Such methods worked fine in the Soviet era of flat wages and a 9-to-6 working day, when people could take their time to recover without losing any money and any opportunities. But times have changed and the more market-oriented Russia's economy gets, the less time people can afford to lose to combat their hangovers.


"Nowadays, people need to actually work in the morning, so they need something else," said Sidnenko. "A lot of business is being done in restaurants and bars, and business people cannot lose any time at all."


Yelena Antipova, an administrator at Bayer's Moscow office, said Alka Seltzer was already very popular and these days was hard to get in Moscow stores because of demand.


"Everyone in the office has tried the pills and they work just fine," Antipova said. "You should definitely try it, though it is not easy to find."