73. Perestroika or Pizza?

Source: Foreign Policy Magazine

Mikhail Gorbachev, the final and former leader of the erstwhile Soviet Union, has become the symbol of the Eastern bloc’s collapse. A few critics are also of the opinion that he was the one who broke the shackles of communism and saving Russia by opening it to a new future for Europe. However, this is a discussion for another day. It is no doubt that Gorbachev helped ease the transition from communism to democracy in his ways. But did you know that he also starred in a Pizza Hut Ad? 

The year was 1997. The former leader of the Soviet Union attempted to make a comeback in Russian politics. The way he did this was by featuring in an ad by Pizza Hut. Surprisingly, he wasn’t the star of the commercial, and he didn’t even speak. The ad is very simple, yet beautiful. It begins with Gorbachev entering Pizza Hut with his granddaughter. A Russian family sitting notices them and proceed to argue about whether the former leader was the source of all despair or joy in Russia: “Because of him, we have economic confusion!” “Because of him, we have an opportunity!” “Complete chaos!” “Hope!. The argument was settled by an older woman who goes on to say: “Because of him, we have many things… like Pizza Hut!, “Hail to Gorbachev!”. 

The ad was a landmark in itself and received the highest press coverage of any advertisement since 1984. Gorbachev was rumored to have received many other offers to endorse products, but he declined them all except for Pizza Hut! He also received a payment of $1 million for the ad, which he later used to build a library. 

The Pizza Hut ad captured the debate raging inside Russia about its political environment. Although the ad was filmed in Moscow, it was never released in Russia because Gorbachev was deeply unpopular after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In other words, Gorbachev’s endorsement of the brand could have caused sales in Moscow to drop dramatically.  Besides, Pizza Hut was a symbol of capitalism. It had broken into the Soviet space before the disintegration. Thus, the ad also marked the opening up of the Russian economy to liberalization and foreign competition, thanks to Gorbachev’s policies. 

Unfortunately, the ad disappeared within a few days, because back then TV advertisements had to be viewed in real-time. The video recently resurfaced on social media a few days ago and has been racking up more than a million views, thousands of likes, comments, and shares across all platforms. Thus we can conclude by saying that: “Communism indeed bought Pizza Hut to the Soviet Union!”