Domino's Calls Out Papa John's

A while back, Papa John's claimed they used better ingredients in their pizzas than Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut sued them and won a judgment that Papa John's couldn't use the slogan “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” because it falsely implied that the competition's ingredients were not fresh or wholesome. Pizza Hut called the Papa John's advertising “puffery.”

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned the ruling, and Papa John's was allowed to continue its advertising campaign. In 2004, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to rule in favor of Pizza Hut, and so the “puffery” was allowed to continue. What a valuable use of our justices' time and energy!

Well, in this ad, Domino's head chef, Brandon Solano, called out Papa John's. In a “national taste test” (conducted by an “independent research company”, though it's telling that the fine print didn't say who it was), they assert that Domino's new hand-tossed pizza with pepperoni beat Papa John's equivalent. The commercial was shot in front of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and made heavy allusion to the Pizza Hut case.

The verdict: Domino's, Papa John's and Pizza Hut, your pizzas all taste disgusting, your sauces contain too much sugar, your crusts are thick, bready and unappealing, and anyone who eats your pizza when he or she has a choice to eat pizza from an independent pizzeria is in desperate need of some taste bud re-education. That's not puffery either.

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