I hate Papa John' Pizza. I hate its pizza. I hate its commercials, with their suggestion that the chain's success is somehow related to the superiority of its product. I hate its smarmy founder, and his implicit posturing as the Steve Jobs of mass-produced pizza. I hate living in a country where a company, and its founder, are permitted to prosper with such a mediocre product. And I hate their slogan, "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza." This is like the Ford Focus advertising itself as "The Ultimate Driving Machine."
Initially, Papa John's brazenness did not go unchallenged. In 1998, Pizza Hut sued the company over its "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza." slogan. The jury found the slogan misleading, but the Fifth Circuit reversed and found in favor of Papa John's. The court found the slogan to be "puffery" and therefore non-actionable. Fortunately, Pizza Hut's loss was Domino's gain. Domino's now features the "puffery" designation in its new television commercials, as a man in a chef suit stands in front of the courthouse that vindicated Papa John's right to propagate its delusional opinions.
Now, I never had a beef with Domino's. Here was a company that knew who it was. Their position was: "Look, we know this isn't very good, but it will get there pretty quickly. You're probably lazy or drunk, otherwise you'd be driving to a real restaurant. Either way, we are prepared to meet your low expectations." But Domino's was not satisfied with the status quo, and has now completely changed its recipe. I can testify personally that the changes have resulted in a pizza that lands on the proper side of edible, but my favorite outcome of the new campaign comes from Stephen Colbert:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Alpha Dog of the Week - Domino's Pizza | ||||
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