In 1998, as Russia was suffering from the financial hardships that came with its rocky transition to a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev starred in a Pizza Hut commercial.
In the ad, an elder Russian complains that Mr. Gorbachev’s reforms helped unleash chaos and political instability, while a younger Russian responds that they gave Russia freedom and new opportunities. The ad concludes that everyone can at least agree that pizza brings people together.