UNICUM LIQUEUR HUNGARIAN POSTER

This very funny advertisement for Unicum, an herbal liqueur produced by the Hungarian company Zwack, is probably the most celebrated Hungarian poster ever made. It shows a man – variously referred to as the drowning man, the ship-wrecked man and the fisherman – who, alone in the sea and up to his neck in water, spies a bottle of Unicum bobbing nearby.  His expression is priceless – joy, surprise and amazement as he sees salvation within reach.  But describing the poster does not do it justice; one has to look at it to appreciate it.

Not only is the poster famous, but the bottle with its distinctive shape and red cross is instantly recognized everywhere as a Unicum bottle.

Unicum is regarded as the national drink of Hungary. It’s a bitter herbal liquor which is consumed as a digestive or aperitif or just as an alcoholic drink.  The Hungarian words on the top of the poster describe it as “the best gastrointestinal liqueur.”

The history of Zwack, the Hungarian company that makes Unicum, is as fascinating as the poster. Jozsef Zwack developed the recipe around 1790, and except for the years during wars and the communist regime, the company continued to produce this drink (using the original recipe) beloved by Hungarians.

This poster was first produced by Unicum in the early twentieth century.  This edition was printed by the company in 1990s.