[eloy]

RIP Gorbachev, one of the few genuinely good people in politics.

After he retired from politics, he was featured in several advertisements:

- In 1994 for Apple Computer: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/10/07/The-first-advertisem...

- In 1998 for Pizza Hut: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorbachev_Pizza_Hut_commercial

- In 2000 for the ÖBB, the Austrian railways: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLscz8kEg6c

- In 2007 for Louis Vuitton: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05vuitton....

[mortenjorck]

Personally, I try to avoid characterizing anyone in politics as a "genuinely good person" or otherwise. I don't think it's a useful framing.

As humans, we gravitate toward personalities, identities, and stories, and these all matter for the people we keep close to us. In the public sphere, however, actions and legacy are what matter, for better or worse. For a major historical figure like Gorbachev, there is bound to be both better and worse, and to me the most valuable analysis is of those actions and legacy rather than personal character.

[_8j50]

I think sincerity is a better measure. As leaders go, he is one of the lasts of his kind.

He was 14 when the war ended. “Our generation is the generation of wartime children,” he said. “It has burned us, leaving its mark both on our characters and on our view of the world.” -- Quote from the WAPO article on this.

[jakuboboza]

Good ? What about sending tanks against Lithuanians and you know...killing people. How good is this ?

700+ injured and 14 dead doesnt sound like something "genuinely good person" does.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Events_(Lithuania)

[hypersoar]

I saw that Pizza Hut commercial earlier today and I can't stop thinking about it. It has so much going on. It's the victory of capitalism over Soviet communism, the rise of neoliberalism to global hegemony, and the "End of History" in the form of a 30-second ad for pizza.

[T-zex]

Gorbachev saw Pizza Hut come and leave his country.

[cpursley]

For the best, Dodo pizza is much better.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodo_Pizza

^ Russian politics aside, Dodo has some impressive tech and processes.

[qikInNdOutReply]

It was also the start of the rush to full neo feudalism. Many conflate capitalism (oppossed) with what we had after the USSR got weak capitalism(unopossed). Turns out the remarkable archievments happen with systemic competition.

[agumonkey]

That is indeed a loaded symbol

[jtjbdhsjjdnd]

For the West he was a hero, for the Russians he was a disaster https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Russia/Death_rate/ . I don't blame Gorbachev for this. Just as in the case of Nikolai II Russian totalitarian state and lack of checks and balances washed out an inept person to rule the country.

[koheripbal]

The communist system is responsible for that, not Gorbachev. Centralized gov't controlled economies create corruption which results in ultimate economic collapse.

[jtjbdhsjjdnd]

I partially wanted to express it with "totalitarian state and lack of checks and balances". However, I slightly disagree. Being an authoritarian ruler, Gorbachev had lots of power. It is proven by the fact that his reforms were radical and unsuccessful, and many of the problems that the Soviet union faced during its demise were exacerbated by them. Of course, the Soviet Union was to suffer some losses but they could have been milder. But may be you are 100% correct. I don't feel knowledgeable enough on the topic of late Soviet union to argue.

[brnt]

All governments create corruption; centalized systems just have zero checks and balances.

[vintermann]

"Checks and balances" mean nothing unless you specify who's checking who. System where the military keeps a check on the president, or the king keeps a check on parliament, aren't really much better than the "checker" being in charge all the time. And systems based on mutual checking tend to just reel from one constitutional crisis to another.

[brnt]

The quality of implementation definitely matters, agreed. However, the Soviet states by and large didn't even have a shitty form in place, the party leader was an 'elected' dictator.

[frostwarrior]

Those checks and balances weren't in Tzarist Russia either.

[krn]

He also did a cameo in Faraway, So Close! (1993)[1] by Wim Wenders:

> Mikhail Gorbachev only appears because his secretary was familiar with the movies of Wim Wenders and was a great admirer. She talked Gorbachev into giving up a couple of hours to do the cameo as he was on a trip to Germany anyway.

[1] https://imdb.com/title/tt0107209/mediaviewer/rm1602489600

[blackhaz]

Supported the annexation of Crimea. Organized highly corrupt privatization of Soviet Union assets. Robbed Soviet working class of their pensions. Handled Chernobyl by throwing people into the furnace and withholding information.

Not sure where you were back in the 80s, but he is one of the etalons of a horrible, corrupt politician.

[djvdq]

Gorbachev good? You think sending tanks to Lithuania to kill people is what good person does? Or hiding everything about Chernobyl and not telling people what happened is also good person best move?

[DocTomoe]

"Shook hands with both Ronalds, Reagan and McDonalds..." [1]

[1] https://youtu.be/ZT2z0nrsQ8o?t=103

[rkagerer]

Anyone have a link to a picture of the Apple ad?

[T-A]

https://brand-history.com/apple-computer-international/apple...

[awiesenhofer]

Such a great site! Thanks for this!

[eloy]

I wish I had it! I think I would have to travel to some physical German archive to lookup old magazines... Or maybe Apple itself has the original digital version in their archives.

[IntelMiner]

Apple has DMCA'd people for hosting copies of their own ads as a hobbyist historical record

https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/27/the-unofficial-apple-archive/

Their Orwellian revision of their own history in the endless treadmill of the "one more thing" I'd be surprised if they truly have any of it still

"We have always been at war with x86"