Be close to your children - a social ad raising difficult questions

A new masterpiece of social advertising has created much response and strong reactions of my friends in Facebook and LJ. Unknown advertisers have decided to create minimalistic but a very touching ad which raises  uneasy issues of teenage pregnancy, parent-child relationships and abortion.

A good-looking teenage girl is standing with her head bowed. She thinks, as it's written on Russian: "My Mom will kill me". And the child in her womb thinks: "My Mom will kill me" too. 

One would think that it's just another one pro-life ad bound to touch our feelings and to make us adversary against girls who make abortions. But it's not so simple. Of course, there IS some pro-life message here, but it's rather subtle. It's more about relationships of a teenage girl and her mother, who will probably force her daughter to make abortion. I know some mothers of teenage girls who have been very touched by this ad. And it has made them to think over their relationships with daughters, of how trustful they are. So, we can conclude that this social ad has proved to be successful. 

British ads for the USSR

It's surprising that these ads were created as early as at 1937. They promoted some products and services of the USSR for British tourists who would visit Moscow. These wonderful examples of advertising graphics and slogans are unique in some sense. So, USSR was the closed country secluded within the "iron curtain". There weren't a lot of tourists there, because it was very difficult to obtain a visa and to buy a ticket to Moscow. But in fact, before Stalin age, the new splendid country which was built according to Communist principles, was seen as a new Eldorado, as the place for social experimentation without any boundaries, as something which had nothing common with "rotting West"  where capitalism still ruled and everything seemed boring for young enthusiasts. So, some modernist architects, artists, writers and journalists came to visit "new Russia", the USSR, and many of them saw it as the place for their experiments and for free roaming of all, even the craziest ideas. Thus, Le Corbusier built several edifices and houses in Moscow according to his principles of severe minimalism, economy of space etc. The harsh and severe lines of Le Corbusier's buildings would be strange and awkward among, say, Gothic spires of Prague or Parisian architectural abundance. But in a new country with new beginnings, which had put the end to its past, such architecture seemed to be exactly what was needed. But these "roaring twenties" in the Soviet Russia is the subject of the separate post I'll write soon... Now, let's come back to 1937. This year is considered to be one of the darkest years in Russian history. If you ask a Russian about his or her associations with this year, they will probably think of Stalin's repressions, sufferings of many people who were sent to the labour camps and prisons upon fabricated accusations in being a spy of some foreign countries or in "damaging of the Socialist property" or in "being a foreign and ideologically alien element" (thus, people who were originated from former aristocracy, civil servants, officers or merchants, people having relatives living abroad, priests and other representatives of former "privileged classes" were in the group of risk; many of them, if they wanted to survive, had to conceal their former occupation and origins, not to say anything about their family and relatives). So, 1937 is "the terrible year", the year of terror. But if we have a look at these cheerful ads, we'll think that there is no country better than the USSR. Tasty food, refined entertainment, technical achievements, spacial streets of the rebuilt Moscow, good-looking girls - that were export items which were to attract wealthy British tourists. And they look appealing even today - if we look at these old-school ads.

Aeroflot still exists today, though it's a private company and there are a lot of its commercial rivals. But "Aeroflot" remains "classy". The graphics here is excellent. I like this combination of light blue, navy and mint green. 

Sturgeon is the Russian national fish, thus, the best "eatable" souvenir was to be the canned sturgeon. But you shouldn't forget about apples, pears and grapes - they were good too and a tourist would be pleased to eat such food. 

The USSR was a very huge country. So, it could offer a plenty of products, especially for foreign tourists. Crab meat was one of such products. You can use it for making a tasty salad with lemons, greenery and eggs - and the graphic image shows that. I like the fonts and designer solutions here, especially this picture of salad-making process painted into the letter "C".

Gastronom is the Russian version of the Western supermarket. In 1937 "Gastronom" was still a trademark, but then it became the common term for all stores of this type. The abundance shown on this picture had nothing to do with reality - as for 1970s-1980s, the product assortment was scarce and people had to queue for hours in order to buy something worth (often, when your turn came nothing was left). 

One of the Russian attractions is the Transsiberian Railway, which stretches out from Moscow to Vladivostok. The train trip along this railway route is a popular Russian excursion (the train trip will take a week). Therefore, the dining car is the special invention (and a very convenient too) for travelers. As we see, food on offer is very good: champagne, fruits, starters, and of course the famous tea in the special designed glass (with the iron holder; it's the collection subject). As for me, I've never eaten in dining cars while traveling by train (it seemed to be a quite expensive pleasure and sometimes assortment is rather scarce). But it should be convenient, especially if your journey lasts the whole week! 

TZUM (Central Moscow Universal Store) still exists today in the fabulous art deco building at the same address as mentioned in this ad, but now it looks just like another one Moscow shopping mall. However, it has retained its reputation as the best universal store in Moscow. When the USSR still existed, people from all over the country came to buy something special in the TZUM they couldn't find on sale in their places. Now you can buy here production of European fashion houses, and, of course, the big ZARA store is located in it. It is especially busy during seasonal sales, and only in this time it somehow looks like it used to be in the years when it was the main shopping mall of the Russian capital. 

Creative approach to stationery - back to school

It's September now and many young people have come back to school. They need new stationary, but what can be more dull than ordinary pens, schoolbags, notebooks and other school stuff? Designers are well aware what teenagers are fond of now, so they have developed some amazing stationery stuff which is rather fun, creative and appealing not only to Internet-wise youngsters. Here are some curious samples I've liked more (and I'd like to buy it for myself, though I'm not in school myself...)

The notebook with circles (instead of ordinary lined or checked notebook we've fed up with

A good Doodle Book for those who have to be present on boring lectures or conferences. I think many office workers who have to attend dull meetings would buy this notebook. You can draw some figures, lines and images in it, and sometimes you can create something worthy (the subtitle of this product is the notebook for occasional scraps and non-occasional insights). 

 A good set of notebooks for military-obsessed boys: 3D pictures of revolver, army knife and grenade must be very appealing for them. 

Computer Science Notebook.

The blue screen of death appearing when your computer is out can reflect one's attitude towards Computer Science as a school or university subject.  

Electrotechnics from a light bulb to vibrator. It's just obvious what it is: Notebook

The famous photo of Tesla and the quirky slogan make it an ideal notebook for Physics. 

This stuff is very useful: different kinds of balls which are to be crumbled and thrown. The ideal device for lessening the tension during the class. 

Be Patient

The traditional Russian school notebook is ideal for lazy students who'll be always reminded that they need to be patient in their sufferings during studies. 

Famous faces circulating in Internet are chosen for coverings of the school notebooks. Each face reflecting one's attitude towards a particular school subject. 

Conceptual art in St-Petersburg: What does this mean?

Around 3 years ago, people strolling along St-Petersburg streets could see these strange paper posters attached to walls. Each of them contained some short but intriguing and mystifying phrase. Startled people started to take photos of these papers and to post them on Internet, while asking each other: "Do you know what all that means?".
Here are these strange posters. Imagine you walking on the street and seeing these things:

"Better than nothing" is worse than "just cool". 

Tourists are freaking performance

The winter's come, the winter's gone, but summer is the summer. 

You remember, you are proud, then tell us what you're proud of

(It refers to the famous slogan of the social advertising campaign launched before the anniversary of the 1945 victory of Russia over the Nazi Germany: "I remember, I'm proud". It was the real epidemic campaign -  so-called "Georgian ribbons" (orange and black striped ribbons of color of the highest military Russian award, St. George's order) were spread among all people, distributed in schools, workplaces, just on the streets. People attached them on their cars, bags, clothes, to show that they remember veterans, but due to this immense popularity it soon became a vice: teenagers decorated themselves by these ribbons, but they didn't know anything about the Great Patriotic War). 

I'll buy, I'll sell, I'll get profit

However, the secret was quickly disclosed, because the author hadn't even thought of remaining anonymous.
Agon_noga is the street art activist from St-Petersburg. His works created in the conceptual style, aren't aimed for high artistic value. Their purpose is the close interaction with viewers. So, the artist fully achieved this goal.

Product advertising in the USSR

I really like cute, straightforward and thoroughly made Soviet ads. Though they are not really commercial, but they are very stylish, and they have been made before the Photoshop era. It means that all advertising illustrations were made be hand and by professional artists. Here are further examples of this nostalgic art:

The whole USSR writes by ink pen "Soyuz" named after L.B. Krasin

Very distinctive coloring reflects the sense of powerfulness and some serious approach to sales. And we also see a good example of fonts (I particularly like them in old ads). The giant ink pen with the brand name and the number appears on the background of the USSR map (only its European part, which is somehow strange). The map is blackened, perhaps by inks, which reflects the meaning of the slogan - that the whole USSR uses these pens for writing. This ad is certainly eye-catching.

Bitter liquors 

A very straightforward ad of alcoholic drinks. I think that such things as tobacco and alcohol should be advertised in this very way - just by showing bottles (or cigarette packs) and without some lifestyle shit, as we see in different ads (naked beauties, cowboys and so on). Here we see three good, solid, well-designed bottles of "bitter liquors" (which are vodka varieties). Even gin ("Dutch Gin" as it's called here) is represented. They are well-painted on the blue background with fine yellow wording (good fantasy font again!). 

Smoke flavored cigars

Yes, they made cigars in the USSR! (they made champagne and called it "Soviet Champagne", it's still popular in Russia). Here we see the attempt to make a lifestyle ad. Packs of cigars are laid against the optimistic and romantic tropical landscape made in ochre coloring. Tobacco leaves frame up products. Here we see good samples of product packaging as well as masterpieces of font design (three kinds of font are used here). Take notice of names of these brands: "Moscow", "Sever" (North), Soyuznye ("The Union's"). It's patriotic!

Drink "Guiness" for your health

I don't know whether they made dark beer in the USSR and called it Guiness as the name of the type (the same story as with "Soviet Champagne", which isn't champagne in the proper sense, just a sparkling wine) or they actually imported Guiness beer to the USSR. But the product name is written by Russian letters. As for the image, they are well-made as usual: two glasses of dark beer: full and empty and the fascinating framing are very eye-catching. 

Street art

Sometimes we've encountered with strange slogans written or printed on walls. Some of them can look like a complete nonsense, some of them are remembered by us and make us laugh. Some of them look strange, some are surprisingly accurate in describing of the current situation. It's the anonymous voice of the city - people who write it are unknown. It's like walls are speaking with passer-bys. I have several examples, made on Russian, but of course, there are a lot of them on English, German or Dutch, since the street art is well-developed in Europe...
Here they are:

The city has become absolutely ugly... Nothing like in the USSR.

This comment written on the dull grey concrete wall is very ironic and may be it reflects feelings of citizens. 

The wife who is an artist is the trouble of family.

I think, it's true to some extent...) Judge by myself (though I'm not an artist in the proper sense).

There wasn't any spleen - but then we downloaded "Hachiko".

The name of this sentimental movie during watching of which no one can avoid tears has become the synonym of all sentimental and tear-squezzing art. 

I'd been standing here for some time, and then I left...

The very good way to mark someone's previous presence in the certain place, so popular among teenagers and youngsters crowding in the public spaces. Better than banal "Vasya has been here"

"We are to grow spiritually. Or it'll be collapse".

The last warning, I guess...

Putin is an illusion.

The name of the current Russian president has also become the part of popular mythology. The man who's concealed his past and his personal life, but has become the symbol of relative wealth and stability cherished by ones and hated by others is the centre of attention. Myths circulate about him. And here we see the picture of the duck who's opened its beak just to say what many people think of Putin - that he's an illusion. 

Social ads in Russia

There are three more examples of Russian social ads which I've recently found. They are interesting and creative, so I think they are worth of mentioning. They are about the issue of waste which people throw away on city streets, littering the city space, and the issue of bringing up children.

Hitch me to the waste bin!

You don't care?!

The waste has home. 

Family of 2 cans will rent the wastebin. We guarantee cleanness. 

You don't care?! 

The waste has home.

A very creative solution for advertising, I think. I've seen these ads on Moscow streets, so they're quite noticeable and they are remembered for a long time. Here we see humanized bottles and cans - the most wide-spread kind of waste found in public spaces and most often left behind by careless people. These items are holding posters and ads, like this "hitchhacking" glass bottle with the poster biding to take it and to put it in the waste bin, and these cans asking for the bin to rent. This is a very creative approach to advertising. It neither shocks nor terrifies or threatens, but rather catches our eye and thus makes us think over the issue of street waste. And slogans are also worth of mentioning: the phrase "You don't care?!" in the red square and the slogan "The waste has home". They add more expression to these photos of cans and bottles which ask us for be delivered to their "home" - the waste bin. 

Your child is a white sheet. It's filled by those who are close. 

You don't care?!

It's the other ad from creators of the previous ones. Here we see the plain white sheet of paper (or a whiteboard) filled by different hand-written slogans, wordings, imperatives (such as - at the right - "Sleep at night!", "You're not alone!", "Study High Maths!" "Be friends!"), messages (at the bottom - "They've switched off the hot water!"), even some samples of abuse language ("Physics is shit") and pictures. This is the symbol of the child's mind and soul, which is initially empty and white but then is filled by different ideas, words and imperatives "written" by people in the child's environment. Thus, it's essential to pay attention on what is "written" in the child's mind and soul, because too often it's nonsense and bullshit. Thus, parents should pay the close attention to the surroundings of their child and to try that the "white sheet" of their child's soul will be filled by nice pictures and good ideas. 

Absurd art

I like the absurd humor because it makes me stop, think over and only then to burst out laughing. So, I've found some nice examples of such absurd caricatures, drawn by the plain pencil on the simple sheet of paper. They are not of much worth in terms of art, but they can be the real hit for those who, like me, love absurd humor and want good and non-vulgar laughing. These pictures are made by an artist from Riga, Latvia, and his approach seems to be a real new word in the area of humor illustrations.

Well, with the help of simple tools you can turn a loaf of white (or brown) bread into a trolleybus... But what for?!

"Aeroflot" is losing its customers

Antique cuckoo clock with pendant (while I was drawing the clock, the horse dreaming of - I quote - "becoming an actress" came to the cadre. 

Small people leaving in the tube of toothpaste say me what to draw but I rarely listen to them.

Katyusha

Staff of the State Drug Police use dolphins for the search of drugs in trains. 

Lips with ears are gazing at the meat pie. 

It is not easy to deliver potatoes to apartments if you have hooves instead of hands. 

AutoVAZ employees leave their hands at the factory gate. 

Sign: "Show your pass opened!"

That's all. Rice leaves the risotto. 

Crosswords - some really original examples

I guess, many people like to solve crosswords (and their varieties) when they have a plenty of time to kill (for example, you're traveling by train or are queuing, or just have a lot of time at night...). They say that the first crossword was invented by the famous Russian writer, the author of notorious "Lolita", Vladimir Nabokov. Since that, this kind of riddles has become really popular and now we have a great number of crossword varieties, such as "scanwords" (Scandinavian crosswords), "chainwords" (when the following word begins with the last letter of the previous one, forming a chain of words) etc. You can find crosswords on the last page of a newspaper or a magazine, and the whole magazines of word riddles can be found everywhere. I think, inventing and compiling of a crossword is the equal intellectual fun. Sometimes you can even find crosswords to occupy your mind with on, say, bus stops or drawn on the wall of an ordinary apartment block. Here are unusual crosswords I've found. They look like traditional ones, but they are nevertheless original.

In 1998 the artist Anton Olshvang used to hang paper sheets with this crossword printed on them at bus stops in Samara, Russia. People waiting for their bus tried to solve it but they always failed to do that. It's not surprising, because Anton had given them a difficult task - there are no words matching to these definitions! You can try to solve this crossword yourself and you'll see that it's just impossible!

Horizontally:

1. Secretly glued dishes. 6. The surprise which is known beforehand. 7. Someone who's missed his or her train or flight. 9. Old insect. 11. The minute before the date. 12. The apartment full of furniture. 13. Unheard alarm clock. 20. The overgrown weed. 21. Grown-up legs. 22. The item hidden in time. 23. The unknown word. 24. The chair which can be turned only clockwise. 26. Two hundred grams of cheese. 30. The unpleasant TV show. 31. A continuous, repetitive sound. 32. The girlfriend's dress. 33. Minimal sovereignty. 34. The food left behind in a fridge. 25. The favorite work carried out on the daily basis.

Vertically:

2. The action which stimulates decision-making. 3. Erased wallpaper. 4. The petty violence of the road traffic. 5. The side opinion. 8. The feeling of social inequality. 10. Pure, but non-transparent water. 14. The sweater which is to put on upside down. 15. The scientific discovery deprived of emotional coloring. 15. The side of a knife which is not sharp. 17. Ink stains in a pocket. 18. Dust in unapproachable places. 19. The old duvet. 25. The empty roller. 27. The good habit. 28. Experience in writing poetry. 29. The absolute material value. 

This crossword can make you feel stupid and ignorant, can't it? But it's actually invented as a kind of mockery, so Anton Olshvang is sometimes called "the first virtual troll". 

Sometimes crosswords can be a landmark. Imagine a dull, grey apartment block which is a real sight to look at the city suburbs. It's quite difficult, isn't it? But Lvov (Ukraine) can boast of such landmark.

This stylish, ancient city has a wonderful "crossword house" in its "sleeping district" full of standard, dull multi-storeyed apartment blocks. The crossword is not just a decoration - you can actually solve it. Booklets with tasks can be found nearby. You can check your answers at night when the wall is lit by lamps and letters appear in grids. The topic of this enormous crossword - names of famous artists and architects.