1972-1988
Soviet anti-alcohol posters
In Soviet Russia, alcohol consumes YOU!
c. 1986
“Little by little, and you end up with a hooligan. Tolerance of drinking is dangerous. There is but a step from drinking to crime.”
From the 1960s through the 1980s, artists throughout the Soviet Union designed propaganda posters to warn the public of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption.
With striking, colorful graphics and stark metaphors, the posters cast alcoholism as a snake choking the life from vivacious young men, a bottle as a prison, and more.
Drinkers grow slothful and lazy, abandon their families, endanger their coworkers, or become murderous brutes.
1988
“Underpass — to the ‘next world.'”
IMAGE: S. SMIRNOV/ALCOHOL BY FUEL PUBLISHING
1985
“We will overcome!” (Text on snake: “Alcoholism.”)
IMAGE: E. BOR/ALCOHOL BY FUEL PUBLISHING
1972
“Not among trees or grasses, the serpent has warmed up among us. Don’t suck on him, mammals, or you’ll turn into a reptile yourself.”
1977
“Don’t drink your life away.”
IMAGE: I.M. MAISTROVSKY/ALCOHOL BY FUEL PUBLISHING
1987
“His inner world.”
IMAGE: P.D. YEGOROV/ALCOHOL BY FUEL PUBLISHING
1980
“This is a shameful union — a slacker + vodka!”
IMAGE: V.O. PUSHENKO/ALCOHOL BY FUEL PUBLISHING
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