Alcohol Nyet!

June 18, 2003 11:28 AM

The Museum of Anti-Alcohol Posters from Russia's 80's anti-alcohol campaign
posted by mathowie (16 comments total)

Of course, an anti-alcohol campaign in Russia of all places is as likely to succeed as a cooling-off campaign inside an active volcano.
posted by 111 at 11:44 AM on June 18, 2003

fantastic! wunderbar! And, I think we should adopt this one as our official anti-PUI (posting under the influence) logo. I love these.
posted by taz at 11:44 AM on June 18, 2003

Absolut Foucault:
The Author-Function and the Founding of Postmodern Vodka Discourse
...an advertisement appearing on the back cover of the October 24, 1994 New Yorker should feature a bottle of Stolichnaya Vodka hefted into the air by a red dirigible as flight-suited Soviet Realist astronauts gaze skyward at it.... The slogan "Freedom of Vodka" stenciled in blue over searchlight swaths of cadmium yellow and white...
posted by matteo at 11:49 AM on June 18, 2003

Anyone know where you can buy these?
posted by rorycberger at 12:03 PM on June 18, 2003

Russian temperance? That's like asking a fish not to drink the water.
posted by SpecialK at 12:06 PM on June 18, 2003

and speaking of alcohol ads and Absolut, here's a fairly persuasive one, on the "anti" side.

I'm not actually anti-alcohol, and I've been terribly impressed with the longevity and creativity of the Absolut ads. I've seen a few parodies that try to make them seem foolish, but so far, this one makes all the others look flaccid.
posted by taz at 12:22 PM on June 18, 2003

Wonderful. So austere. I love them. Thanks, mathowie.
posted by squirrel at 12:22 PM on June 18, 2003

The guy in the back on the right is priceless.
posted by jpoulos at 12:33 PM on June 18, 2003

taz: The text on your first link says "Socially dangerous."

Most of them are pretty self-explanatory, but for this one to work you need to know that the label being removed says "WHITE [wine]/ STRONG" (upper left: "alc[ohol] 19%") and the new one says "JUICE/ NATURAL"; the bottle is saying "This renovation (or 'new acquisition') suits me." This one says "Don't be in captivity to a bad habit"; this one says "The profiteer is the worst enemy" (a slogan that could have appeared, and probably did, on posters throughout the history of the Soviet Union); this very odd image is captioned "Hurts health, family, posterity." If anybody wants others translated, let me know.

Good stuff. Say, who's this "mathowie" fellow? He should post more often.
posted by languagehat at 12:40 PM on June 18, 2003

LH, you are a treasure. I kiss you!

and as long as I'm drinking at this rate, I say go ahead and translate them all.
posted by taz at 1:02 PM on June 18, 2003

[this is good]

This guy is definitely gonna be the mascot at my next party!
posted by jcruelty at 1:02 PM on June 18, 2003

Thanks for the translation, languagehat. Can you tell us what the first one (the yellow one with the wrench/bottle motif) says?
posted by vorfeed at 2:52 PM on June 18, 2003

It is (roughly, my Russian is a touch iffy)
Alcohol - enemy of productivity
posted by kickingtheground at 3:32 PM on June 18, 2003

Actually enemy of production (in the sense of 'manufacturing'); 'productivity' is produktivnost' (an ugly and alien-sounding word that wouldn't be very effective on a poster).

taz, I kiss you back, but I'm too damn lazy to do 'em all.
posted by languagehat at 3:42 PM on June 18, 2003

Speaking of absolut parodies...
posted by Tlogmer at 7:25 PM on June 18, 2003

Wow! I remember some of these (two or three for sure) hanging on the walls of our local health clinic. The one with a mother nursing a bottle as if it was a baby, for example. I think that was near the pharmacy window. Geez, I have this weird flash back feeling. I am a child of the 80ties.
posted by adzuki at 12:54 PM on June 19, 2003