Mikhail Gorbachev Pizza Hut commercial

Last updated

Mikhail Gorbachev Pizza Hut commercial
Mikhail Gorbachev in the Pizza Hut commercial, November 1997.png
Mikhail Gorbachev with his granddaughter Anastasia Virganskaya in the commercial
Agency BBDO [1]
Client Pizza Hut
Language Russian 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
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg 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 sign in Moscow, Russia, just before the store opened, 1990.jpg
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. Tverskoy District, Moscow, Russia - panoramio (206).jpg
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]

As stated by Tom Derbyshire to Newshour on the BBC World Service , it was understood that Gorbachev was to be used as a controversial figure, one that would use the former soviet leaders mixed reputation to spark debate, only then to be united by the American pizza, which to Tom, was a good thing. [16] It is said that the commercial reflects the mood of Russian society at the time, and has been known to be used in teaching. It highlights the differing ideologies between generations, with economic frustrations being at the forefront, Gorbachev is seen as the representative figure, as seen in the commercial. [17]

The commercial suggested that capitalism was better than communism because it made Pizza Hut possible. [18] 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." [18]

Further developments

Remaining part of the Berlin Wall, which fell in 1989 during Gorbachev's term. 152 5228.JPG
Remaining part of the Berlin Wall, which fell in 1989 during Gorbachev's term.

Pizza Hut left Moscow in October 1998, [19] but they returned in March 2000. [20] 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" [21] [22] and was filmed at the Wien Floridsdorf railway station. The ad was broadcast on ORF for the first time on May 10, 2000. [23] 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. [18] [24] Unlike the Pizza Hut commercial, this advertisement was shown in Russia. [25]

Pizza Hut suspended operations of their 50 Russian outlets in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [26] In the hours following Gorbachev's death later the same year, Pizza Hut became a trending topic on Twitter. [27]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ excluding Russia

Related Research Articles

Glasnost is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissibility of hushing up problems. In Russian the word 'гласность' has long been used to mean "openness" and "transparency". In the mid-1980s, it was popularised by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased government transparency in the Soviet Union within the framework of perestroika, and the calque of the word entered into English in the latter meaning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Gorbachev</span> Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 and additionally as head of state beginning in 1988, as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990 and the only President of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically, Gorbachev initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism but moved towards social democracy by the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perestroika</span> Soviet political reform movement

Perestroika was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated with CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the political and economic systems of the Soviet Union, in an attempt to end the Era of Stagnation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pizza Hut</span> American multinational restaurant chain

Pizza Hut is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yegor Ligachyov</span> Soviet politician (1920–2021)

Yegor Kuzmich Ligachyov was a Soviet and Russian politician who was a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and who continued an active political career in post-Soviet Russia. Originally an ally of Mikhail Gorbachev, Ligachyov became a challenger to his leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Soviet coup attempt</span> Attempted coup détat against Mikhail Gorbachevs government

The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Soviet Union's Communist Party to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet President and General Secretary of the Communist Party at the time. The coup leaders consisted of top military and civilian officials, including Vice President Gennady Yanayev, who together formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). They opposed Gorbachev's reform program, were angry at the loss of control over Eastern European states and fearful of the USSR's New Union Treaty which was on the verge of being signed. The treaty was to decentralize much of the central Soviet government's power and distribute it among its fifteen republics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">We will bury you</span> 1956 quote by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev

"We will bury you" is a phrase that was used by Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, the de facto ruler of the USSR, while addressing Western ambassadors at a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956. The phrase was originally translated into English by Khrushchev's personal interpreter Viktor Sukhodrev. The phrase was received very negatively by contemporary Western audiences, but modern translators have suggested the phrase was mistranslated.

<i>The Moscow News</i> Russian newspaper

The Moscow News, which began publication in 1930, was Russia's oldest English-language newspaper. Many of its feature articles used to be translated from the Russian language Moskovskiye Novosti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Marner</span> Actor (1921–2004)

Richard Marner was a Russian-British actor. He was probably best known for his role as Colonel Kurt von Strohm in the British sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!.

Marshall Irwin Goldman was an American economist and writer. He was an expert on the economy of the former Soviet Union. Goldman was a professor of economics at Wellesley College and associate director of the Harvard Russian Research Center. Goldman received his Ph.D. in Russian studies from Harvard University in 1961. Goldman was well known for his study of the career of Mikhail Gorbachev. His books on the former Soviet Union include The USSR in Crisis: The Failure of an Economic System, Lost Opportunity: What Has Made Economic Reform in Russia So Difficult, and Petrostate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gorbachev Foundation</span> Non-profit organization

The Gorbachev Foundation is a non-profit organization headquartered in Moscow, founded by the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1991 and began its work in January 1992. The foundation researches the Perestroika era, as well as issues of Russian history and politics. It was financed by Gorbachev and donations by people and companies.

Alexander Isaakovich Gelman, original given name Shunya, is a Bessarabian-born Soviet and Russian playwright, writer, and screenwriter.

Gorbachev is a Russian surname. It derived from a word meaning "Hunchback". The Ukrainian equivalent is Horbanenko and the Belarusian equivalent is Harbachow.

Architect amidst the Ruins was an open letter by Gennady Zyuganov, then a relatively little known party functionary who later became the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, to Alexander Yakovlev, the ideological founder of perestroika who was also known as the "architect of perestroika". The letter was published in the hardline communist newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya on 7 May 1991. The letter argued that perestroika caused disintegration of the state; democratization resulted in a "war of legislation"; glasnost turned out to be a weapon in the psychological war against the Soviet people; and a new alliance of obscurantists, lumpen intelligentsia, and criminals was coming into being.

The following lists events that happened during 1988 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

New political thinking was the doctrine put forth by Mikhail Gorbachev as part of his reforms of the Soviet Union. Its major elements were de-ideologization of international politics, abandoning the concept of class struggle, priority of universal human interests over the interests of any class, increasing interdependence of the world, and mutual security based on political rather than military instruments. The doctrine constituted a significant shift from the previous principles of the Soviet foreign politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Karagezyan</span>

Karen Karovich Karagezyan is a Soviet and Russian journalist, translator, writer, the deputy head of the press office at The Gorbachev Foundation.In different years he was the press secretary, advisor and assistant of Mikhail Gorbachev.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilya Zaslavskiy</span> Russian politician

Ilya Iosifovich Zaslavskiy is a Russian politician of the Perestroika era, activist and specialist for the rights of disabled people, and entrepreneur. He has held seats in the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union, State Duma of the Russian Federation, acted as deputy minister for the Russian Ministry of Land Policy, Construction, Housing and Utilities, and worked on the World Committee for the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDonald's in Russia</span> Subsidiary of American fast food company

From 1990 to 2022, the American fast food chain McDonald's operated and franchised McDonald's restaurants in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death and funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev</span> Death and funeral proceedings of the last leader of the Soviet Union

On 30 August 2022, Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, died after a long illness at the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital in Russia. Gorbachev was the last living Soviet leader following the death of Georgy Malenkov in 1988, was the only one to have been born during the Soviet Union's existence, and the only one to have died after its dissolution. At the age of 91 years old, Gorbachev is the longest-lived ruler of Russia to date, having lived longer than Alexander Kerensky and Vasili Kuznetsov, who both died at 89 years old. On 3 September, a funeral was held for Gorbachev, and he was buried later that day.

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. ↑ Tobias, Ben (August 31, 2022). "What a Pizza Hut ad says about Gorbachev - and Russia". BBC news.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. ↑ Tobias, Ben (August 31, 2022). "What a Pizza Hut ad says about Gorbachev - and Russia". BBC News.
  18. 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.
  19. ↑ "Pizza Hut Says 'Nyet' To Moscow". CBS News . October 28, 1998. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Pizza Hut returns to Moscow". AdAge. January 6, 2000.
  21. ↑ ""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.
  22. ↑ "ÖBB - "Gorbachev"". AdForum . August 2000. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021.
  23. ↑ "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.
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ "Михаил Горбачев стал лицом Louis Vuitton". Kommersant . Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ Grenier, Elizabeth. "Mikhail Gorbachev's pop culture legacy". Deutsche Welle . Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.