Did advertisements for consumer goods/services exist in any medium at all in the former Soviet Union?

by GK_Zhukov
dieLaunischeForelle

Yes. For instance here is an advertisement for a new lighter model of water-proof shoe soles. No trademark is given; just the material of the sole. Another poster: buy icecream. Or: smoke fragrant cigars. Fragrant is no trademark here. The consumer is told that cigars in general are fragrant and is shown all the different brands available in the USSR.

So: Nope. It was no safe heaven for anti-consumerists either.

spin0

In addition to the already mentioned print media there were also television adverts in the Soviet Union. Those were all made by a single Estonian enterprise Eesti Reklaamfilm which was established in 1967 by Peedu Ojamaa. The first television adverts in the Soviet Union were made that same year.

The peculiar thing in the Soviet system was that the producers of consumer goods had to use certain amount of their budget for advertising. Because making a television advert was an easy way to spend that money and Eesti Reklaamfilm was the only one making them in its heyday it produced hundreds of advert films a year. The enterprise became wealthy and its founder Peedu Ojamaa a well-off self-made-man. During the 24 years of its existence Eesti Reklaamfilm made over 5000 adverts.

The mandatory advertising spending sometimes led to absurd situations. Sometimes adverts were filmed in exotic far-away places just to make sure all the money got spent. Or sometimes the goods were not available to consumers even when there were adverts. And sometimes the goods advertised were quite peculiar such as a double-layered outhouse toilet cover. The important thing was the advertising money got spent and creating consumer demand for a product was not always the primary goal.

This also led to unusual styles in adverts. One of the advert producers notable for his unique style was Harry Egipt, here's his 1986 advert for minced chicken meat (kanaa = chicken): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6LAVk1sHW8

This dark humour filled energy-saving campaign advert by Priit Pärn won the Bronze Lion in Cannes 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkCuh8K4L8s

Here's an interesting documentary telling the remarkable story of Eesti Reklaamfilm and its founder and director Peedu Ojamaa: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3216380/

Trailer: Goldspinners trailer