Alcoholism and drunkenness has always been one grave social problem among many others. Habit of drinking alcoholic beverages seems to be shared by most people of the European and American world. And quite often this habit becomes mortal, destroying a person's health, making her addictive and influencing on her social and family life. Governments and societies have long been struggling for the ideal of sobriety (with different degree of success). Different "dry laws" were introduced, only to make things worse, because as there weren't any alcoholic beverages legally sold "black market" of fake, "hand-made" and even poisonous booze immediately started to prosper, alongside with illegal import from abroad.
In the USSR, "dry law" was introduced by the General Secretary (then the President) Michael Gorbacheff as the means to encourage people work more instead of drinking vodka and to improve the nation's health and well-being (because alcoholism is also related with family and society problems, poorness and child abuse). The massive propaganda overwhelmed the country - the number of anti-alcohol publishings and social advertising campaigns were great, as well as some forcing measures, such as destroying of Crimean vineyards (some of the vine species grown in Crimea had been really unique and would never be restored) and involuntary sending people suffering from alcoholism to so-called Prevention Houses ("profilactories") where they were kept 24 hours a day without the right to leave it before the certain term. The net of so-called "vytrezvitely" ("Sobering Houses") was organized. And it still operates. So, a policeman had the right to arrest a drunken person on the street and to send her to the Sobering House for a night. It was thought that the perspective to spend a night under the arrest in a prison-like institution would be a good stimulus for someone not to drink to the degree it would be very noticeable (till they became unable to stand straight and to walk properly). And it made things worse that policemen often robbed an unlucky drunkard of his or her valuables. But sometimes this measure was beneficial, for in harsh and frosty Russian winters many people who'd drunk too much had the risk to fall asleep in the snow and never wake up (and this happened sometimes), and thus, policemen saved drunkards' lives in cold seasons. Moreover, people with heavy drinking habits risked their working careers.
As it always happens with such measures, intentions had been good, but the reality turned to be more complicated, and, just like it had happened during American "dry law", people soon started to look for ways to illegally purchase alcohol. The old village craft of "samogon"-making (samogon - is the Russian native equivalent to whiskey and brandy) started to revive. People made homemade wine and beer, and often not for their own usage but for sale. Since nobody controlled the quality of these drinks, there was a danger to be poisoned or to get sick while drinking this alcohol. Real alcoholics turned their attention to alcohol-containing liquids, not intended for drinking by people, such as perfumes, eau-de-colognes, lotions, cleaning liquids etc. Some medicines (different herbal liquids) containing high percentage of alcohol were bought by alcoholics in drugstores. Of course, it made things worse and poisoning by this inappropriate "booze" was quite common (and sometimes lethal). And none of the strict governmental measure didn't solve the problem of drinking.
Of course, drinking and alcoholism are serious problems affecting social, working and private life of the person suffering from it and people around her. And, unlike drugs, alcoholic beverages are wide-spread and can be bought anywhere, they are relatively cheap (compared with heroine, for example). People become addictive to heavy doses of alcohol and develop a lot of diseases. Many divorces, child abuses and neglecting are indirectly caused by drinking habits of a parent or a marriage partner. Someone who's addictive to alcohol turns into an anti-social person who cannot do her work properly and spends all her money on drinks. Many severe crimes are committed under the alcohol influence - most notoriously, murders and assaults. But, as we see, the complete ban on selling alcoholic beverages usually doesn't help. In Russia, this is aggravated by the fact that traditionally Russian people like to drink strong alcohol, for example, vodka or brandy, and they drink it in shots, so they can get drunk quite fast. The beer as the essential element of a party became popular among Russians only 20 years ago (before that it had been used as a hangover remedy or a refreshment beverage), and the wine was considered "the booze for women". So, the culture of drinking wine or beer during the meal is foreign for Russia, instead of it Russian people traditionally prefer to get drunk on rare occasions, but drinking then becomes really extreme.
I've chosen some well-known Russian posters which serve as a good illustration for Soviet anti-alcoholic campaign. They are good examples of Soviet poster graphics as well as of social advertising; at least, they warn against consequences of uncontrollable drinking quite well. Here they are:
Shame on you!
He got drunk, was rude and broke a tiny tree -
He is shameful to look at people's faces now.
So, here we have the whole, well-painted (as usual with Soviet ads) story of a quite respectable man who's got drunk, misbehaved and damaged the public property (and caught by a policeman for his misdemeanor). Now he's overwhelmed with the feeling of shame. It seems that the main cause of his shame is not a fine but that he damaged the young tree which had been carefully planted either by himself or by his neighbors or colleagues. The main message of this ad is that you should always think of consequences of your drunken behavior and it's better not to get drunk if you don't want to be destructive.
Not a drop!
This ad warns against teenage drinking. A hand which, may be, is belonged to some kind of a superior guardian, prevents the schoolboy against tasting the alcohol. Many future alcoholics first get drunk in early age, so this ad contains a clear message: you'd better not even try!
Let's hit!
It's an ad of the early Soviet era. Here the message is clearly visible: drinking habits of workers slow down industrial revolution. The red furious worker with the great hammer ("Cultural Revolution", as it's written on it) is destroying the huge bottle of alcohol. Factories and plants, electrical power stations are on the background, reminding us of the prosperous future - without such "vice of the past" as vodka-drinking. Below one can read a poem of the recognized Soviet poet Demian Bedniy whose verses were often quoted on different posters of Stalin era.
In this tiny glass,
in the very this
The great plant
Can drown.
Let's expel drunkards from working masses!
This poster is also a vivid and emotional warning against drinking at the working place. The disgusting picture of the red-nosed drunkard pouring vodka to the glass and the vodka flooding a Soviet plant is very impressive.
Dad, don't drink
Not only a career or a plant where the alcoholic works can be affected by his mortal habit, but also his family life, as we see from this poster. A dramatic choice of images grabs our attention. The hand with the raised vodka shot, belonging to the drunkard who is going to pour "just another one" inside and a desperate child with miserable expression trying to prevent his Dad from drinking. It's laconic but it's smart.
For the health?
A quirky graphics is very impressive. Two glasses of wine standing side by side suddenly form a skull. It's a subtle picture, using methods of optical illusion and Surrealism painting. It quietly but rather cruelly reminds us of consequences of alcohol consuming.
The rich internal content.
This is some king of hybrid between a social ad and a caricature. It mocks a man whose head is literally full of booze. Make notice that a man wears good clothes and bottles are quite expensive, such as cognacs and liqueurs. This ad also aims against people who like collecting rare beverages.
Alcohol
A loop of rope forming the letter O in the word "alcohol" is an impressive image. Black and white graphics only emphasizes the gravity and mortality of alcohol consumption problem. It also hints that the alcoholism not only kills the body - alcoholics tend to commit suicides, and, as far as Russia is concerned, the most popular way of alcohol suicides is hanging oneself. So, the main message of this ad: "The alcohol is mortal".
Stop!
Last warning
Another metaphor in a good and impressive graphics - drinking is just another method for killing oneself. A drunkard is almost one foot in the abyss, but the hand of its guardian manages to save him on the very edge of it. Take notice to the small figures of the drunkard's desperate family.
And they still say that we are pigs...
This poster artist chose another tactics - instead of warning or frightening viewers he decided to mock drunkards and their inappropriate ("piggish") behavior. Two pretty pigs look down at a disgusting drunkard with his face in the dish, surrounded by half-eaten fish and his own vomit on the table - the unpleasant picture to look at.
