Content deleted Content added
Move text around, add background information |
Add more background info |
||
Line 22:
== Background ==
Pizza Hut opened in 1990 in Moscow, a few months after the first [[McDonald's]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Khurshudyan|first=Isabelle|title=McDonald's made its Soviet debut 30 years ago. Its golden arches were a gateway to Western influence.|language=en-US|work=[[Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mcdonalds-made-its-soviet-debut-30-years-ago-its-golden-arches-were-a-gateway-to-western-civilization/2020/01/31/8869b2e6-4296-11ea-99c7-1dfd4241a2fe_story.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-11|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> It was one of the first foreign owned restaurants that was able to open in [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]], thanks in part to Gorbachev his own [[Perestroika]] policies.<ref name=":1" /> It was the part of the largest deal ever between the Soviet Union and an American corporation, which was [[PepsiCo]] as the [[parent company]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ramirez|first=Anthony|date=11 Sep 1990|title=Soviet Pizza Huts Have Local Flavor|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/11/business/soviet-pizza-huts-have-local-flavor.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625191640/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/11/business/soviet-pizza-huts-have-local-flavor.html|access-date=2021-03-12|website=[[New York Times]]}}</ref>
They are advertising for the Edge pizza, which was introduced in October 1997.▼
Gorbachov said the money would be used for his [[Gorbachev Foundation]]. According to the ''New York Times'', some reports indicate Gorbachev was paid close to US$1 million.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Stanley|first1=Alessandra|date=December 3, 1997|title=From Perestroika to Pizza: Gorbachev Stars in TV Ad|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/03/world/from-perestroika-to-pizza-gorbachev-stars-in-tv-ad.html|access-date=9 March 2021}}</ref>▼
▲They are advertising for the Edge pizza, which was introduced in October 1997.
▲
Gorbachev was quoted in CNN saying:<blockquote>"I'm in the process of creating a library and a perestroika archive, and this project requires certain funds. Perestroika (restructuring) gave impetus to Russia and to the whole world. It is very important that everything that happened be preserved in these two centers.
Line 36 ⟶ 44:
== Production ==
Gorbachev arrived late, in a limousine. The Red Square was shutdown for a day during the filming. The Pizza Hut shown on the Red Square was actually a [[jewellery store]] which was changed for the filming. The filming inside was done in an actual Pizza Hut restaurant in Moscow.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Musgrave|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Musgrave|title=Mikhail Gorbachev's Pizza Hut Thanksgiving Miracle|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/28/mikhail-gorbachev-pizza-hut-ad-thanksgiving-miracle/|access-date=2021-03-11|website=Foreign Policy|language=en-US}}</ref>▼
▲Gorbachev arrived late, in a limousine. The Red Square was shutdown for a day during the filming. The Pizza Hut shown on the Red Square was actually a [[jewellery store]] which was changed for the filming. The filming inside was done in an actual Pizza Hut restaurant in Moscow.<ref
== Content ==
Line 69 ⟶ 85:
Gorbachev has been described as a by bystander to the drama occurring in the commercial.<ref name=":1" />
It has been described as a "beautiful film and weird advertisement".<ref name=":1" />
The commercial suggested that [[capitalism]] was better than [[communism]] because it made Pizza Hut possible. Because Gorbachev was transformed into a commercial spokesman for a powerful western brand, it has been described as one of the starkest illustrations of the victory of [[consumerism]] over [[Participatory democracy|political participation]]. The co-optation of his iconic status for marketing purposes has been interpreted as symbolizing his irrelevance as a political figure in the [[Post-communism|post-communist]] context.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gross|first1=Peter|title=Media Transformations in the Post-communist World: Eastern Europe's Tortured Path to Change|last2=Jakubowicz|first2=Karol|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780739174944|page=16|chapter=5}}</ref>
| |||