packaging as content

December 22, 2008

CCCP Energy Drink

 Last month I was taken to Net Cost Market, our Russian supermarket here on Staten Island. I was amused by this CCCP Energy Drink and so I bought it. (Similar to Leninade, mentioned in an earlier post.)

What so funny about CCCP? Well, prior to SCTV’s parody of imaginary Russian television shows, I didn’t know from CCCP. As an American born in 1955 (one year after the Army-McCarthy hearings) I only knew it as USSR.

In 1968–1969, I was in high school attending a “civics” class taught by a Mr. Governol. (I kid you not.) One day in class, Mr. Governol tried a fairly progressive teaching approach. Obtaining a record player from the AV department, he played for us, the Beatles hit B-side “Revolution.” He was particularly intent that we should listen to the lyrics, hoping, I suppose, that we wouldn’t go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao.

Another Beatles song from that period that Mr. Governol did not play for us: “Back in the USSR.” The song which, with one simple lyrical trick, manages to conflate both sides of the iron curtain… “Back in the US—back in the US—back in the USSR” (Try doing that with CCCP!)

(More communist packaging, after the fold…)

Choba B CCCP (Back in the USSR), Paul McCartney’s 1988 Soviet release of cover songs

If the Beatles were any indication, it wasn’t just Americans who intrigued, but conflicted about communist style. Hammers & Sickles were an on-going obsession of David Warner’s character in the 1966 British Film, Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment.

Morgan opening cans with a new-fangled 1960s electric can-opener

Morgan in the asylum, not cured of his Marxist aberration, after all

In the film, Morgan’s affinity for communist symbols was explained by his upbringing. (His Mum was a Marxist.) Personally it’s not the communist symbols, but the frequent donning of the gorilla suit that I find offensive. Radical chic for the 1960's, but not the of the revolutionary rigour of, say, the Guerrilla Girls.

The film’s 1966 trailer

The World’s Fair in Montreal: Expo ’67
(Russian pavilion in the foreground with American pavilion in the background)

The cold war may be over, but here in the US, the “culture war” somehow rages on. Not a cultural war between us and our new Russian neighbors on Staten Island—but the intra-American, family squabble that has, for so long, dominated American political discourse.

Wikipedia’s list of hot-button, culture-war issues does not even include communism. (This war’s supposed to be all about abortion rights and gay marriage.) None-the-less, I think that your attitudes about communism offer a key indicator of which side of the battle-line you are likely to stand on. Offended by “Soviet” symbols infiltrating our beverage distribution channels? You must be right-handed. Appreciate the irreverent humor of “communist” symbols on our capitalist goods? You are a lefty.

Russian Coke can from Brandon-J’s Flickr Photo Stream; Leninade bottle cap from .bek’s Flickr Photo Stream; Hammer + Sickle Vodka bottle from ebay; plus Russian Coke & Pepsi bottles (from I forget where)

P.J. O’Rourke is often quoted for writing: “Liberalism is just communism by the drink.” There are plenty of radio pundits who, like him, would like nothing better than to re re-ignite the cold war. (See: O’Rourke’s book, “American Spectator’s Enemies List: A Vigilant Journalist’s Plea for a Renewed Red Scare” published in 1996) But with so many communist beverages (and other stylish CCCP products) so readily available for our consumption, it sort of seems like maybe that ship has sailed.

Men’s CCCP watches are a huge thing for some reason, but there are lots of other CCCP fashion accessories, as well

Which brings us to Al Franken. During his campaign to become Minnesota’s Senator, his earlier career as one half of the “Franken and Davis” comedy team in the late 70s had become red meat and ammunition to those on the other side of the culture war divide. The humor and irony of Al Franken & Tom Davis standing together in front of red hammer & sickle vinyl banners, regularly signing off their skits with an old-fashioned, madison-avenue style, Communist Party endorsement …

… was either lost on his political adversaries or deliberately overlooked in an attempt to whip up some 1950s-style indignation about the supposedly un-American nature of Franken’s early activities.

Al Franken with a cereal box prop in 1978

Is it possible that the symbols of communism meant something different in 1955, 1978 and 2008? Even if you’re nostalgic for the good old days, doesn’t the presence of the hammer & sickle symbol on so many consumer products, undercut its use as a menacing, anti-capitalist symbol just a little?

And what, I wonder, do these symbols mean to my Russian expatriate neighbors? Do they now abhor the hammer and sickle? Or do they feel a certain nostalgia for some aspects of their earlier Soviet life? (A Russian version of the East German Ostalgie?)

Russian classroom photo from fishki.net (I’m guessing, these kids were my Russian contemporaries in the early 1960s)

When I was a kid in elementary school, I remember my class being shown a lot of films (and film strips) depicting a bleeding map of Soviet territorial expansion. The “red menace.” Now that it’s become accepted usage during elections in America, to depict Republican states in red and Democratic States in blue, the symbolic spectacle of a map dominated by the color red has acquired an entirely different meaning. In this context we are no longer supposed to say, “Better dead than red.” Which just goes to show, that the meanings of our symbols sometimes do change.

Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design

(and since it’s nearly Christmas, perhaps I should mention that CCCP can also stand for the “Christmas Coup Comedy Players.”)

No Responses to “CCCP Energy Drink”

1. Randy Ludacer says:

   January 26, 2009 at 12:29 pm

   Melody, great post! You’ve put your finger on a significant trend. And I think you’re right that there’s an element of social commentary here: whatever you put into these containers, they also contain a critique of disposable culture. As if they were making the case that this type of disposable packages SHOULD be permanent.
   Here’s another nice example…
   http://www.lorenabarrezueta.com/gcindex.html
2. alex valich says:

   May 5, 2009 at 11:48 pm

   The “cast this” trend has been around since the early 1990s and is so played out by now. There is absolutely no need for anymore ceramic everyday items.