Gorbachev’s other legacy

Mikhail Gorbachev died yesterday. In the West, he is remembered as a visionary who helped bring an end to the Cold War. In Russia, he is reviled as the man who destroyed an empire.

In marketing circles, he is remembered for a Pizza Hut ad.

It’s about a bizarre a pairing as you can imagine and the emotional appeal is not entirely clear. It certainly captured attention, though, when it first aired during the 1998 Rose Bowl football game. Pizza Hut wanted a big-name spokesperson and Gorbachev needed the money, so it worked in that regard, too.

The ad features Gorby entering a Pizza Hut in Red Square with his granddaughter. A family at a nearby table begins debating his legacy before finally agreeing that one obvious thing he achieved was opening the door for Pizza Hut to come to Moscow. At the conclusion everyone in the restaurant stands and salutes him with a slice of pizza.

This feature in Foreign Policy explains the backstory of the ad in fascinating detail, based on interviews with some of the key players involved. A central goal was to establish Pizza Hut as a serious, global brand, which would distinguish it from competitors like Domino’s and Little Caesar’s. And, indeed, although the storyline was a little cringey, the spot had its highbrow elements. Not too many ads depict characters debating contentious and complex policy issues, almost all the lines were spoken in Russian, with subtitles, and the cinematography was rather impressive.

Nonetheless, Gorbachev was aware the ad could diminish his legacy. It took him a while to overcome his reservations and agree to it. But he had one stipulation on which he would not compromise – he would not eat pizza on camera. Instead, the spot showed him cutting a slice for his daughter.

Like a lot of things Gorbachev touched, this story didn’t end quite as perfectly as was hoped for. The Russian economy collapsed in August 1998 and Pizza Hut exited the Russian market later that year.