These Soviet anti-drinking PSAs show a different side of Russian propaganda

In the latter years of the Soviet Union, the government employed public service announcements (PSAs) to discourage alcohol consumption, depicting alcohol as a deadly entity. A new exhibition titled "Just Say Nyet" showcases the most effective examples from the late 1980s, offering a unique perspective on Soviet propaganda. The show, curated by B.A.

Van Sise and running from November 12 to April 11, 2027, at Poster House in New York City, features a visual style different from constructivist and socialist realism approaches.

These 1980s PSAs employ simple symbols like alcohol bottles and labels, with the intent of creating minimal and easily understandable visual metaphors about the dangers of drinking. The exhibition highlights a humanist approach to government propaganda, focusing on individual health and wealth instead of a person's contribution to the state. This approach can also be observed in other antidrug and morality PSAs of the time.

For instance, the poster "Don’t Lose Face" replaces a young person's face with an alcohol bottle, warning that consuming alcohol could result in losing one's personal identity. Other examples include "Alcohol Destroys Life" (1989), which portrays a bottle crushing a man, and "Lethally Harmful" (1989), depicting a bottle shape within a razor blade cutting into a heart shape. The message is clear: alcohol kills.

The anti-drinking campaign was initiated in May 1985 as the Soviet government's most serious effort to combat alcoholism since the prohibition era during World War I. However, it ultimately failed, similar to the U.S.'s Prohibition during the Great Depression, and the French sobriety campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite the government's efforts, many individuals turn to alcohol to alleviate their troubles, and no slogan can persuade someone with tremors to abstain from drinking.