Following the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, a Pizza Hut advertisement starring the former Soviet Union leader has re-emerged on social media.
The TV commercial, which aired in 1998, sees Gorbachev enter a Pizza Hut restaurant with his granddaughter, as a family turns around to see if it’s really him.
Upon realising that it is, an argument breaks out between the family members, with one criticising Gorbachev’s politics and another praising them.
One man says, “Because of him, we have economic confusion,” to which another responds, “Because of him, we have opportunity.”
The critic then says: “Because of him, we have political instability,” to which the fan replies, “Because of him, we have freedom.”
Through cries of “complete chaos”, “hope”, and “political instability”, another family member chimes in - and brings peace to the conflict.
A woman says: “Because of him, we have many things… like Pizza Hut.”
This argument wins over the critic, who raises a slice of pizza and says “Hail to Gorbachev!”
The rest of the restaurant’s guests join in the toast, all raising their pizza to the former Soviet Union leader.
But why was Mikhail Gorbachev featured in a Pizza Hut advert?
As the woman in the advert explains, Gorbachev was partly responsible for Western restaurants, like Pizza Hut and McDonalds, being able to open in the Soviet Union, thanks to his perestroika (restructuring) policies. As a result, Pizza Hut first opened in the USSR in 1990, in Moscow’s Red Square.
Gorbachev then appeared in an ad for the restaurant in 1998, seven years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is thought that he earned nearly £1 million for the appearance – money that Gorbachev badly needed.
Gorbachev had started a non-profit organisation, The Gorbachev Foundation, but the Russian leader Boris Yeltsin systematically removed the foundation’s support in response to Gorbachev’s criticism.
In 2007, the former Soviet leader said: “At the time, I had some financial problems with my foundation, so I did an advertisement for Pizza Hut.
“I got the maximum, because I needed to finish the building. The workers started to leave. I needed to pay them.”
He also appeared in other adverts, including one for luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton in 2007, in which he was photographed by Annie Leibowitz in front of the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev justified the appearance by explaining he would be using the money to pay for equipment for a hospital that treated children with leukaemia.
But it’s the 1998 Pizza Hut ad that’s circulating on social media following Gorbachev’s death.
The ad is even more poignant considering that Pizza Hut was one of a number of Western restaurants that ceased trading in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
