World War Z is not what you think

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"Communication Z", which was advertised by "foreign agent" Monetochka

In 2020, the singer Monetochka and rapper Noize MC released the track “Live without a trace” for the Beeline advertising campaign. In the video for the song, Monetochka and Noize MC sing against the backdrop of the letter Z, depicted in the yellow and black colors of Beeline.

The song by Monetochka and Noize MC was dedicated to the rational use of the planet's resources: the musicians called for the rejection of overconsumption. So they promoted the new tariff "Communication Z", the conditions of which allowed customers to independently choose the number of minutes and gigabytes of Internet they needed and spend them indefinitely. Representatives of the brand explained that the concept of the tariff was inspired by the principles of Zero Waste.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Beeline removed the tariff to the archive, Vedomosti noticed in October last year. The company declined to explain to the publication why they did it.

World War Z with Brad Pitt

In 2013, the action movie with Brad Pitt "World War Z" was released worldwide. The film tells about the epidemic of a virus that turns people into zombies. The Z in the film's title stands for zombies. It can also be interpreted as "the last war", since the letter Z is the last letter in the Latin alphabet.

was released This is not the only film whose producers play with the meanings of the letter Z. In 2019, the Canadian horror movie Z about a boy who made an imaginary friend with that name. Over time, it turns out that Z is real.

The letter Z also appeared in Russian cinema. In 2018, the TNT channel released the comedy Zomboyaschik, a collection of sketches that make fun of modern TV. The film did not pay off at the box office and received extremely negative reviews from critics and audiences.

Zetflix, which changed its name to Cyrillic

Not only films and clips have aged badly - some companies decide to change the logo, in which there are symbols of war. The Russian confectionery brand O'Zera followed this path. In September 2022, the first batches of the brand's chocolates and sweets appeared in stores, in the logo of which the Latin Z was replaced with the Russian "З". At the same time, the spelling of the letter R remained in the Latin alphabet. Officially, the company did not comment on the rebranding.

After the outbreak of the war, he changed the letter Z to "Z" in his name and the pirate online movie theater "Zetflix". The letter Z was also used as a logo by the Belarusian publication zerkalo.io, created in 2021. After the Russian invasion, the letter was replaced with a dove of peace on a red background.

For companies operating in foreign markets, this is easier. For example, the logo of the browser version of the video conferencing software Zoom displays the letter Z - it is unlikely that the company is going to change this.

Z, which is "no longer about us"

Some clubs and bars, on the contrary, after the start of the war, made a special military identity, replaced the Russian “З” and “В” in the names with Z and V, or introduced dishes with military names into the menu. And those who wanted visitors not to associate the institution with the war had to remove the Latin alphabet.

For example, Carl's Bar in Arkhangelsk did this - before the war, the bar's logo had the letter Z, after the Russian invasion it was replaced with a "K". “Because Z is no longer about us,” the administration of the institution noted in social networks. The popular among Russians bar in Jerusalem, Putin Pub, also changed its name after the start of the war, now it is called Generation Pub.

The letters Z and V can look comical in some old news today. For example, in 2014, the editorial staff of Lenta.ru celebrated its dismissal from the publication in the ZaVtra club, popular with the Moscow opposition (in 2014, the chief editor of Lenta.ru, Galina Timchenko, was fired, appointing another person to her position. After that, part of the editorial office resigned as a sign of solidarity and protest, and Timchenko founded Meduza, one of the main publications that today opposes the war) . The club closed in the same year, 2014.