Polish Anti-Alcohol Poster Campaigns in 20th Century - An Analysis of Visual Public Health Strategies

Introduction: Throughout the 20th century Poland experienced increasing levels of alcohol consumption, notably of vodka, with its attendant health and social impacts. This paper reports results of an Anglo-Polish collaborative study of anti-alcohol posters in Poland. It forms part of a broader project examining the public health poster in its changing social and epidemiological context. Poland offers a particularly rich case study, with its transitions from interwar independence, to cultural thaw, and then to the decline and fall of communism.

Materials & Methods: We surveyed and classified posters in five major archives in Warsaw, Krakow and Katowice according to date, content, artist, target group and style. Databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE (2006-2008), and that of the State Agency for Prevention of Alcohol Related Problems were reviewed for relevant literature.

Results: Alcohol was a major public health concern: out of almost 1000 posters identified 257 have anti-alcohol themes. Stylistically realism predominated initially, though from the late-1950s designs reflected the emergence of the Polish School of Poster (several of whose leading artists figure in our sample), with its eclecticism, openness to Western graphical style and use of symbolism and ambiguity. Messages fall into three broad categories: financial effects of alcoholism, risk of accidental injury and appeals to personal morality. Subsidiary themes, such as drink-driving, sober tourism and youth drunkenness emerge in specific campaigns.

Discussion & Conclusions: Although the emphasis on alcoholism in Polish public health reflects an underlying epidemiological imperative, it may also arise from the cultural status of alcohol as symbol of political disillusion and nihilism. Realist images emphasized contribution to productivity, and social and familial obligation were important themes throughout. Appeals to the individual become more prominent after the thaw, though rarely on the basis of personal medical risk. Some symbolism deployed by artists was ambiguous, potentially subverting official messages.