I recently moved and I have been going through boxes sorting and rearranging things for the display case. While sorting I found this box of Soviet Army, veteran, tourist and commemorative pins and I though I would post it here to see if any of you guys remember this giveaway promotion.

 

Back in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Barq's Root Beer Company bought up a few tons of Soviet tchotkes and offered "Genuine Soviet Stuff" as an advertising promotional giveaway. For 50 cents and a proof of purchase seal from a 12 pack of soda they would send you a small plastic box with a few different random pieces.

 

My son thought this was great. He got a kick out of mailing the seals and getting Russian Army stuff. He started pestering everyone to get him the proof of purchase seals and got back piles of stuff. He was young and this was a lot of fun for him to get stuff and then look it up and identify the pieces.

 

None of what he got was all that fantastic or valuable. Most of the packets included 2 or 3 Communist party, tourist or veteran's pins but occasionally some pretty interesting pieces showed up including some actual Red Army and Navy insignia.

 

Anyway here are some of the things he received from this giveaway.

 

 

 

 

 

These are all veteran and WWII commemorative pins.

More stuff including some actual Soviet Army cap badges.

Wow! I somehow missed out on that when it happened. Not really expensive items, but still anice selection.

I've got a few of the veteran pins, may I please see a shot of the back of one?

Here is a shot of the backs and pins. With the exception of the actual Army cap badges in photo #4 all the pins are simple bent wire like this.

thank you. I too have a bunch of these. I was curious to see the back pins

Really interesting story & post, Dennis, Thanks for sharing! Bob

I've got my box in my desk at school.

I was so excited back in 1992 when they made this available. I can't believe more people didn't order these! I have attached photos of my two packages. Funny story; I only have one of the Gorbachev fake tattoo birthmarks that were included in each package because one of my friends dressed up like Gorbachev for Halloween back then and used the birthmark. By the way, that is quite a collection. I guess you guys drank alot of root beer. LOL

Yeah, my son and I had a lot of fun seeing what would arrive. A lot of the stuff was the same, but his persistence paid off. I have a few of those tattoos stashed away in the Soviet box.

 

Do you remember this commercial?

 

I showed that video to my family and they cracked up. Thank you so much for sharing that. I completely forgot about that commercial.

I missed seeing this at the time too! I was stationed in Germany from 1989-1992 and enjoyed all the East German and Soviet stuff at the flea markets. Most of it was junk but there were a few gems mixed in.