Advertising of alcoholic products and drunkenness: confrontation (on the press publications of the early twentieth century)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to define the main advertising strategies for promoting alcohol products in the press of Naddniprianska Ukraine of the early twentieth century. The object of the study is mass and specialized press, which popularized beer, wine, vodka, tinctures, cognacs, etc. Such publications appeared in newspapers and magazines of Volyn, Kyiv, Kherson, Chernihiv regions, Tavria, and Slobozhanshchyna («Volyn», «Yuzhnoye slovo», «Khersonskoe slovo», «Zhyzn Yuga», «Zerkalo Odessy», «Novaya Iudeya», «Kosmos», «Yaltynskyj listok», «Charkovskyj listok», «Nezhynskyj holos», «Yuzhno-berezhskyj vestnik», etc.). Methods. The research methods include historical, logical, comparison, which made it possible to restore some facts about the past (operation of alcohol industry enterprises, creation of brands of their owners, distribution of relevant products, etc.); selective monitoring of periodicals in most provinces of Naddniprianska Ukraine in the early twentieth century, which advertised wine and vodka and beer industry, as well as published materials with warnings against drunkenness and alcoholism. Results and conclusions. It was found out that press used various types of advertising – textual and artistic-visual, means of language attractiveness and perfect printing, published confirmation of reputation the greatest rewards on international exhibitions, gave the expert conclusions of specialists, and cautioned from imitation. Often such advertisements appeared on the first pages of newspapers and magazines.