Was there any kind of advertising in countries under a basic communist regime following the Marxist theory. Meaning CCCP or Cuba not including China that isn't that much communist nowadays.

by Yeslife_Tryharder

I always wondered if in a real hard communist regime like CCCP there was some form of advertising for a product or another even if there wasn't any form of private goods and competition. Or if advertising is something just proper to the capitalist world we live in.

Kochevnik81

Repost of an earlier answer of mine:

I'll focus on a particular sliver of Soviet history (the 1920s and 1930s) and specifically print media in that period, but, in short, there were advertisements for consumer goods, although advertisement placements were restricted far beyond what an American consumer would be used to.

In this period, advertisements for consumer goods, especially newly-introduced consumer goods (often based on European or American products) were more of an educational nature, as often such goods were unavailable in shops. It was less that Soviet citizens should go out and start buying them (often this was impossible), but rather that they should know that such goods existed and expect them as part of a new, cultured life in developed socialism. This was part of a broader campaign in the period to (yes, very ironically) inculcate more traditional middle-class values and mannerisms among peasants and workers. Often, much of this was based on public health and polite behavior: Wash your hands with soap! Don't spit on the floor! This was part of a general push for Soviet citizens to become more "cultured", including becoming literate and having a knowledge of Russian literature and arts. But knowing about new consumer and household goods (curtains, tablecloths, lampshades) was part of that general campaign for culturedness. Much of this advertisement was directed specifically at Soviet women, as they were treated as arbiters of household taste.

An example quoted by Sheila Fitzpatrick for that champion of consumer condiments, ketchup:

"In America a bottle of KETCHUP stands on every restaurant table and in the pantry of every housewife. KETCHUP is the best, sharp, aromatic relish for meat, fish, vegetables an other dishes. Ask for KETCHUP from the factories of Chief Canned Goods Trust in the stores of Union Canned Goods Distribution syndicate and other food stores."

A final note is that product demonstrations by sales personnel in stores and at trade exhibitions also acted as a version of in-person advertisement, and especially at the exhibitions Soviet citizens could see consumer products, such as automobiles, cameras and washing machines, that they would have extreme difficulty obtaining in everyday life. It's a bit after this period, but the famous "Kitchen Debate" between Khrushchev and then-Vice President Richard Nixon was at one such exhibition in Sokolniki Park in Moscow in 1959, although in that particular instance it was specifically an exhibition of US consumer goods.

Source:

Sheila Fitzpatrick. Everyday Stalinism