Officials in the Russian city of Voronezh have ordered posters, which depict a military clad Joseph Stalin next to the slogan ‘Victory will be ours!’ be removed from advertising billboards because they’re not selling anything. Put up by the Communist Party to honour the start of the Great Patriotic War (World War Two from the Soviet perspective), and because 2009 marks 130 years since Stalin’s birth – though there continues to be much debate over whether he was born in 1878 or 1879 – authorities want them taken down because they break the law on advertising protocol. Advertisements are required to contain a product that can actually be sold, with political adverts permitted only during election campaigns.
Several advertising agencies refused to take the order for the billboards, as although many Russians continue to view Stalin as a great statesman his purges, etc have officially been condemned – in a fashion. A spokesman for the Communist Party pointed out that despite the policy of adverts containing saleable products only, there was no shortage in the city of posters showing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Funny that.
Regardless of whether they’re adverts or not, I can think of many other reasons why Stalin shouldn’t be promoted so publicly. Twenty million reasons for a start. Or thirty million. 40 million, perhaps. Even 50 million. More? Very probably. The number of deaths that he was ultimately responsible for seem to go up year on year. But best not mention all that, eh. . . .
