This emotional atmosphere and enthusiasm for space exploration were supposed to be shared by Russian people as an ‘hour of triumph’ for the country – something to be proud of, along with achievements in ballet and figure skating and indeed these still evoke patriotism. Soviet era propaganda interpreted the progress of space exploration as a step towards communism’s total world dominance. Russians recognize Sputnik as a symbol of one of the Soviet Union’s most important achievements. On the ‘CCCP’ ice cream package, Sputnik carries a red star high above the planet, flying to the right of the brand name.
The ‘red Earth’ and ‘red universe’ are imaginary and hyperreal however Sputnik appears as a real-life symbol of Soviet power. There is also an association with the soviet news programme ‘Vriemja’ (‘Time’), which started with a similar animation style (using the image of the Earth) and a recognizable signature tune. Observing further, the Earth is situated to the right of ‘CCCP’: the planet is red, recalling Cold War period propaganda aims and statements that communism would be the entire planet’s dominant ideology. Space here is dominated by the name of the product, ‘CCCP’, carrying numerous associations for those who lived in the USSR, as well as those who have inherited this history and also creates a context for the product – an appeal to a nostalgic, patriotic feeling of remembering Soviet power. In one instance, the ice cream package appears to represent space itself: the viewer looks down as if from a spaceship high above the Earth. ‘CCCP’ (‘USSR’) ice cream packaging employs the graphic style of soviet posters, often including red as a representative colour of communism and the soviet past a recognizably constructivist font and a luminous white – suggesting something miraculous and powerful. The intensity of this phenomenon and its peculiarities vary across countries and cultures, of course: However, since the start of economic transition, Russia’s accelerated commodification process has witnessed a growing tendency for nostalgia in marketing appeals – from both domestic and global companies. These cultural texts appear in numerous modes, from the recognizable meanings of particular shapes and colors to music and iconic photographic images. Capitalism and commodification breed conditions for nostalgia, according to Goldman and Papson: and this process may inspire the recycling of mass cultural texts as primary resources ‘for narrating our collective past as memory’ (1996). Ice cream packaging from post-soviet Russian brand ‘CCCP’ employs soviet era themes, stylizations, and designs – including a potentially controversial use of the historic ‘State Quality Mark’ – evoking the past and appealing to nostalgic feelings of the Russian people. Kseniya Makarenko and Janet Borgerson, University of Exeter
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