Catherine
A slogan that has stayed with me since childhood is a little hard to translate to English because of grammatical gender. The thing is, the word кофе (coffee) in Russian is masculine – so, it’s a “he,” – but colloquially we often turn it neuter, as in “it.” This used to be a grammatical error, so you’d often hear lots of jokes about the gender of coffee. I say “used to” because these days both versions are considered the norm and you can call coffee whatever gender you like. But it used to be, as the ad goes, только он (only he) – Grand (that was the brand’s name), and that’s how it’ll always be for me.
Marina
My brain is a mishmash of random memories, like movie lines, song lyrics, and ad slogans. Coming out of my mouth unexpectedly, those rarely make a hilarious one-liner, like Позаботьтесь, дети, о своём скелете! (Children, take care of your skeleton!) from the commercial of a Danone yogurt. You may wonder: “what the heck is this?” Well, I don’t know neither why I still remember this, nor how this knowledge can serve me in life – but the oldies will get me: these were the “wild” ‘00s and we had yogurts with skeletons on the packaging.
Elizaveta
If you’re missing catchy songs in your life, here’s an adorably bizarre tea ad to save the day. According to its plot, a celebrity enjoyed his drinks so much that he couldn’t help singing about it. And from the very moment you hear the first line “Золотая чаша, золотая,” (literally a golden cup, the name of the tea), you’re cursed to sing along, too! Over time, it became a staple of Russian memes, so if you want to get a deeper understanding of the local culture, check out a 10-hour version of the masterpiece.
Vasilii
Now that I think about it, there’s only one Russian ad that my friends and I quote up to this day: the 90’s one for Holsten beer. The plot is simple yet quite original: Mephistopheles offers the young Faust to sell his soul for “the best in life” – and a beer to seal the deal. And asks what kind of beer he would have. When Faust asks for a Holsten, the devil questions his choice: “Choose a different one!” – after which the lad tears up the contract, saying that the devil’s offer is nothing but an empty promise ‘cause “he who knows of the best things in life would’ve chosen a Holsten.” Next thing we see is Mephistopheles trying Holsten and calling it “celestial.”
So, whenever we have to make a choice – a movie to watch, a destination to go to – we often respond to the option we all like by reenacting the ad. Stupid as it may be, this brings us back to our common childhood, and lets us experience a mix of nostalgia and consonance – a very treasured feeling among old friends who rarely see each other.
