Mikhail Gorbachev Pizza Hut commercial
Mikhail Gorbachev with his granddaughter Anastasia Virganskaya in the commercial
AgencyBBDO[1]
ClientPizza Hut
LanguageRussian with subtitles in English language[2]
Running time1:00[3] or 0:30[4]
Product
Release date(s)January 1, 1998
Slogan
  • "Good friends. Great pizza."[5] or "Have you been to the edge?"[6]
Written byTom Darbyshire[1]
Starring
Country

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was featured in a 1998 television advertisement for Pizza Hut. It was filmed in November 1997 on Red Square and in a Pizza Hut restaurant elsewhere in Moscow. It was aired internationally in January 1998, but not in Russia.

In the commercial, a family inside the Pizza Hut restaurant discusses Gorbachev's political legacy. The younger man and the older man disagree, until the older lady says that Gorbachev gave them Pizza Hut. Gorbachev used the money he earned to finance projects by his foundation. The commercial has been described as illustrative of the victory of capitalism inside the former Soviet Union.

Content

External videos
video icon Gorbachev Pizza Hut commercial on YouTube (1 minute)

The commercial starts with an aerial view of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and Manezhnaya Square from the viewpoint of the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow after a recent snowfall. Then Gorbachev is walking through the snow with an umbrella, together with his granddaughter Anastasia Virganskaya while Saint Basil's Cathedral is visible in the background. They enter the Pizza Hut restaurant at Red Square and take a seat at a table in the corner.

A conversation begins among a family at a different table. They speak the Russian language, but English subtitles are provided.[2] The father, played by Richard Marner,[7] notices Gorbachev and complains, "Because of him we have economic confusion." The son argues, "Because of him, we have opportunity." The conversation continues: "Because of him, we have political instability."—"Because of him, we have freedom."—"Complete chaos."—"Hope!". The mother cuts in, saying, "Because of him we have many things, like Pizza Hut." Suddenly, everyone in the restaurant agrees. They stand up and chant, saying "Hail to Gorbachev!", and Gorbachev is shown smiling.[5][8]

The voiceover says: "Sometimes, nothing brings people together better than a nice hot pizza from Pizza Hut."[1] The chorus of acclamations is heard even more loudly, as if resonating throughout Moscow.[2] At the end, the slogan "Good friends. Great pizza." is shown.[5] A different version was made that included the slogan "Have you been to the edge?".[6]

Background

Pizza Hut in Moscow just before the opening in 1990

Pizza Hut opened in 1990 in Moscow, a few months after the first McDonald's in Russia opened.[3] It was one of the first foreign-owned restaurants that was able to open in Soviet Russia, thanks in part to Gorbachev's own perestroika policies.[2] The idea for a Pizza Hut in Moscow came from a personal friendship between Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin and Donald M. Kendall, CEO of Pizza Hut's parent company PepsiCo. It was part of the largest deal ever between the Soviet Union and an American corporation.[9] The arrangement flopped after the Soviet Union collapsed, which killed Pizza Hut's supply chain.[2]

Pizza Hut had frequently ordered advertisements from BBDO before. BBDO art director Ted Shaine recalled that the company "heard that [Gorbachev] was willing to do something", but others suggest BBDO came up with the idea themselves.[2]

It took months to negotiate a deal. Katie O'Neill Bistrian at IMG negotiated for Gorbachev. The long duration was partly to increase the fee for Gorbachev, but also represented real hesitation on his part. His wife Raisa Gorbacheva feared that the ad could harm his reputation. Gorbachev agreed under the conditions that he could give his final approval over the script. He would also not eat pizza, which disappointed Pizza Hut. O'Neill Bistrian suggested that a member of Gorbachev's family would eat the pizza slice, which ended up being his granddaughter.[2]

The exact amount that Gorbachev received was never disclosed, although it was argued that it was one of the largest talent fees in history.[2] According to The New York Times, some reports indicate Gorbachev was paid close to US$1 million (equivalent to about $2M in 2022).[10] Gorbachev said the money would be used for The Gorbachev Foundation, and was quoted in CNN saying:

I'm in the process of creating a library and a perestroika archive, and this project requires certain funds. Perestroika gave impetus to Russia and to the whole world. It is very important that everything that happened be preserved in these two centers. It's an important part of life. It's not only consumption, it's also socializing. If I didn't see that it was beneficial for people, I wouldn't have agreed to it.[11]

Production

The white building on the right (which is a jewelry store) was used in the commercial. In the middle of the picture, the Iberian Gate and Chapel is visible.

O'Neill Bistrian, the director Peter Smillie and several others flew to Moscow in November 1997. The preproduction took several days. The principal photography took place over two days. Gorbachev arrived late, in a limousine. Red Square was shut down for a day during the filming. The Pizza Hut shown on Red Square was actually a jewelry store which was changed for the filming. The filming inside was done in an actual Pizza Hut restaurant in Moscow. For taking the shots of Red Square and churches, the crew hefted the film cameras on the Kremlin itself. Some challenges included the weather, which meant a low temperature and low light. The commercial was edited afterward by Clayton Hemmert from the firm Crew Cuts. He played a key role in shaping the ending of the commercial, by adding reverberation and layering chants over each other. The production costs were estimated to be in the low millions of dollars.[2]

Broadcast and reception

The commercial was broadcast in the United States during the 1998 Rose Bowl football game on January 1, but not in Russia where Gorbachev was widely criticized in the media for taking part in the advertisement.[8] Years after the initial broadcast, the commercial became a viral video on multiple occasions.[1] Time listed the commercial in a "Top 10 Embarrassing Celebrity Commercials" list.[12][13] Thrillist named it in a 2014 article as one of the 11 most bizarre celebrity endorsements.[14] In a 2010 interview by the Russian magazine Snob, Gorbachev stated that he received various letters of support.[15]

Analysis

Gorbachev has been described as a bystander to the drama occurring in the commercial.[2] It has been described as a "beautiful film and weird advertisement" and as exploiting the shock value of having a former world leader appear. The ad also played on the fact that Gorbachev was far more popular outside Russia than inside it.[2]

The commercial suggested that capitalism was better than communism because it made Pizza Hut possible.[16] In 2012, Nadia Kaneva and Elza Ibroscheva wrote that Gorbachev's appearance in the Pizza Hut ad—as well as his appearance in a 2007 Louis Vuitton print ad for which he was photographed by Annie Leibovitz—symbolized "the passing of communism and the triumph of the new, capitalist, and consumerist order" with Gorbachev's transformation "into a commercial spokesman for powerful Western brands" and the "co-optation of [his] iconic status for marketing purposes" serving as an ironic symbol of "his irrelevance as a political figure in the post-communist context."[16]

Further developments

Remaining part of the Berlin Wall, which fell in 1989 during Gorbachev's term.

Pizza Hut left Moscow in October 1998,[17] but they returned in March 2000.[18] Gorbachev told The Guardian that he lost his savings due to the 1998 Russian financial crisis.[2]

In 1997 Gorbachev told CNN that he did not plan to participate in advertisements again.[11] In 2000, however, Gorbachev was featured in an advertisement made in Vienna by Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann for the ÖBB, the Austrian federal railways. The slogan was "Perestroika in the ÖBB"[19][20] and was filmed at the Wien Floridsdorf railway station. The ad was broadcast on ORF for the first time on May 10, 2000.[21] In 2007, Gorbachev was featured in a photograph advertisement taken by Annie Leibovitz for Louis Vuitton in a car next to remaining parts of the Berlin Wall.[16][22] Unlike the Pizza Hut commercial, this advertisement was shown in Russia.[23]

Pizza Hut suspended operations of their 50 Russian outlets in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[24] In the hours following Gorbachev's death later the same year, Pizza Hut became a trending topic on Twitter.[25]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ excluding Russia

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Darbyshire, Madison. "Gorbachev, Pizza Hut — and my dad". Financial Times. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Musgrave, Paul (November 28, 2019). "Mikhail Gorbachev's Pizza Hut Thanksgiving Miracle". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on December 1, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Khurshudyan, Isabelle (January 31, 2020). "McDonald's made its Soviet debut 30 years ago. Its golden arches were a gateway to Western influence". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  4. ↑ Johnson, Greg (December 23, 1997). "Gorbachev Takes Russians to the Edge in New Pizza Hut Commercial". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Giasson, Steve [in French] (February 27, 2016). "Eating a slice of pizza at Pizza Hut. Before taking the first bite, exclaiming: Hail to Gorbachev!". Performances Invisibles. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Mullally, Una. "Is there anything they won't endorse?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  7. ↑ Tobias, Ben (August 31, 2022). "What a Pizza Hut ad says about Gorbachev - and Russia". BBC News. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
  8. 1 2 Broder, David. "The Man Who Brought Pizza". Jacobin. Archived from the original on December 1, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  9. ↑ Ramirez, Anthony (September 11, 1990). "Soviet Pizza Huts Have Local Flavor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  10. ↑ Stanley, Alessandra (December 3, 1997). "From Perestroika to Pizza: Gorbachev Stars in TV Ad". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  11. 1 2 "Gorbachev's pitch for pizza released". CNN. December 23, 1997. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  12. ↑ Silver, Alexandra (August 24, 2010). "Top 10 Embarrassing Celebrity Commercials". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  13. ↑ G. Zhang, Jenny (August 15, 2019). "Yes, That Was Former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev Shilling for Pizza Hut in an Old Commercial". Eater. Archived from the original on August 16, 2019.
  14. ↑ McGauley, Joe. "The 11 Most Bizarre Celebrity Endorsements Of All Time". Thrillist. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Михаил Горбачев. Стоила мне эта работа очень дорого". Snob (in Russian). October 9, 2010. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  16. 1 2 3 Nadia Kaneva & Elza Ibroscheva (2012). "5: Media and the Birth of the Post-Communist Consumer". In Peter Gross & Karol Jakubowicz (ed.). Media Transformations in the Post-communist World: Eastern Europe's Tortured Path to Change. Lexington Books. p. 82. ISBN 9780739174944. Archived from the original on July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Pizza Hut Says 'Nyet' To Moscow". CBS News. October 28, 1998. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Pizza Hut returns to Moscow". AdAge. January 6, 2000.
  19. ↑ ""Perestroika in den ÖBB"? - Michail Gorbatschow dreht für die ÖBB einen Werbefilm". Der Standard (in Austrian German). May 4, 2000. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  20. ↑ "ÖBB - "Gorbachev"". AdForum. August 2000. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021.
  21. ↑ "ÖBB-Fernsehspot "Perestroika" mit Michail Gorbatschow als Hauptdarsteller am 10. Mai on air - BILD (web)". OTS.at (in German). Archived from the original on March 14, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  22. ↑ Levin, Dan (November 5, 2007). "Louis Vuitton Ad Shows Gorbachev Accompanied by Subversive Text (Published 2007)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 29, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Михаил Горбачев стал лицом Louis Vuitton". Kommersant. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  24. ↑ Kollewe, Julia (March 9, 2022). "KFC and Pizza Hut owner and Heineken pause business in Russia". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  25. ↑ Grenier, Elizabeth. "Mikhail Gorbachev's pop culture legacy". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
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