"We choose love!"

One enduring feature of Russian public life is the effort to address complicated social problems with awkward agit-prop. In the face of Russia's perilous demographic crisis, 2008 has been declared "The Year of the Family." It will be celebrated by increased payments for giving birth, and apparently every Muscovite born this year will get a special medal. It also includes a major ad campaign, including this giant billboard on Zubovsky Bulvar:



This poster is on my way to work, and the more I think about it the more I am amazed at its silliness. Consider the centerpiece, a cute little girl, appropriately decked out in Russian winter fashion, i.e., excessively. She's holding her hands up dutifully in keeping with the logo of the "Year," and flashing her best goofy kid smile. But then look at the parents...

Let's start with mom. It is a fact well known that nothing inspires as much concentration and soulfulness in the heart of a Russian woman as having her picture taken. Every Russian worth her salt practices her look in front of the mirror when she is alone. Our mother in this photo is trying to say: "No, parenthood is not easy. It is struggle. Only another mother can possibly understand. We do it because we must." (cynical westerners may raise some additional questions, but such an analytical approach to the "Russian soul" is off limits here. "Russia cannot be understood with the mind..." blah blah blah). The father is simpler: "Why did I let my feeble-minded wife talk me into this? I have many more important things to do. In fact, I am leaving at once!..."

My question here is why this photo was chosen for this particular gigantic poster. It is the same reason why I wonder how come character actors with grimey, dark yellow, crooked, nasty teeth are deployed to try to sell me toothpaste.

The "have more kids, comrade" theme has been around for awhile. But at least in Soviet times you had much better message discipline. From 1968 ("One kid is okay, two is better") ...