It Gets Weirder: Turns Out That DOMino’s Pizza Ad Wasn’t “Authorized”
Someone's going to get a spanking for this.
@ToplessRobot Thanks for reaching out. This was created with unauthorized use of our branding. The people responsible are being dealt with.
— Domino’s Pizza (@dominos) January 28, 2015
Jill would like you all to know that when she first saw this tweet, she thought Domino’s was doubling down and making a badly worded joke about dom-style punishment. Turns out, that’s not really their thing after all!
Despite our… excitement? horror? at what appeared to be Domino’s latest BDSM-inspired Sriracha pizza ad, it turns out that Domino’s never actually authorized the ad to ever go to print, and is now doing hella damage control to ensure that everybody knows it.
The ad was actually the brainchild of the Israeli offices of McCann Erickson, who reportedly pitched it to the Domino’s independent chain there according to the brand’s Twitter account.
@Cosmopolitan Yes, it was created & pitched by McCann Erickson Tel Aviv to the independent franchise in Israel.
— Domino’s Pizza (@dominos) January 28, 2015
@Cosmopolitan It never “officially” appeared anywhere. — Domino’s Pizza (@dominos) January 28, 2015
How it surfaced on the Internet is anyone’s guess—we’re guessing a leak from the agency, probably—but when it showed up on Ads of the World a few days ago, the copy underneath suggested the ad had been published in December 2014, which is most likely what led many of us to believe that the ad was in print somewhere. But even if it was never authorized, it was still pitched, which in and of itself is baffling.
Still, barring any “dealing with” from Domino’s, it appears to have paid off in lots of publicity for the agency—this is the most anyone’s talked about McCann Erickson since that time they got namedropped on Mad Men. Good job, team. I hope you don’t get fired too much.
Ah well. At least we still have our pizza condoms.
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