People in the Soviet Union were quite familiar with the benefits of alcohol. As this was a serious problem for society, various posters were made as a warning against this vice.

In the period from the 1960s to the 1980s, there were many posters whose task was to divert the citizens from alcohol. Their interesting design includes slogans that warn of the social and personal effects of alcohol consumption.

The SSSR alcohol ban

Alcoholism in the seventies became a plague in Russia. In May 1985, the Secretary General of the Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev started a campaign against alcoholism. Part of these campaigns were graphic works in the form of posters.

Gorbachev made many distilleries switch over to the production of non-alcoholic drinks and raised the price of beer, wine and vodka. He also activated a ban on selling alcohol in certain time periods. Retailers could sell alcohol only between 2 pm and 7 pm, so the Russians began to wait in line early in the morning. The crowd would often start a fight and soon there was a police officer in front of each store to keep order.

Why did the Soviet authorities decide to partially ban alcohol?

The economy has stagnated for years, and alcohol was considered to be a major part of the problem - workers went to work at the factory to drink, the family and the social lives of people were suffering.

The second goal was that the money spent on alcohol would begin to be spent on consumer goods - which would also help the economy. That didn't happen - the balance of supply and demand has changed so radically that the level of production could not be monitored. To make things worse, the shortage of goods had a negative effect on the people's incentive to work. Why should you work when you can’t buy anything?

How did the Russians react to the ban?

Everyone just started drinking at home. People have distilled alcohol from organic waste or inexpensive, inadequate ingredients such as starch, sugar, low quality cereals, potato chips or turnips. And they simply looked for alternatives to drinking alcohol - such as household chemistry, medicines, and even cologne. For example, a cologne water bottle of 64 percent alcohol in 1988 cost 98 kopey, while a vodka bottle cost about 10 rubles (one ruble was 100 kopey). That price difference was enough for many Russians to start ignoring the scent of Cologne water while drinking it.

How did Russia fight this?

With 2 year prison sentences for making alcohol at home and with these funny posters which were pretty clear - they are against alcohol. The drunkards are literally sealed in bottles, or being chocked by a green snake (the Russian symbol for alcohol). Characters on them are losers who are bad at work, pregnant women, drunk drivers, people who neglect their families and so on. The special and funny design is what makes them interesting.

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