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Basketball Fan
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 5215
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 Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject: Papa John's is offically dead in Cleveland (Cavs/Wiz) |
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Shame this series is over this was just getting good...
http://www.sogoodblog.com/2008/05/03/papa-johns-pizza-hates-the-state-of-ohio/
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Does Papa John’s Pizza Hate the State of Ohio?
May 3rd, 2008 · 24 Comments
Update 5/4. 1:30 AM: The snowball effect continues. Someone has started a Facebook group titled “Cavs fans that will never eat Papa Johns ever again”
Update 5/4, 12:15 AM: Earlier today the Cleveland Plain Dealer interviewed me for a story about these shirts. Their story has now been posted on the Plain Dealer website. It notes, among other things, that the decision to give out these shirts was NOT authorized by the corporate office.
Update 5/3, 11:30 PM: Less than 24 hours after So Good broke the story, someone has put up a website called Boycott Papa John’s.
Update 5/3, 8:00 PM: Deadspin, FanIQ, Cold Mud, AOL’s Fanhouse and more than a dozen other online communities have picked up the story.
Update 5/3, 3:15 PM: This story is starting to spread like wildfire. Cavs fans online are already suggesting a boycott HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. In the comments, a delivery driver for Papa John’s writes:
“We received two faxes talking about the shirt,followed by threats to boycott.”
A General Manager for a Northeast Ohio Papa John’s adds:
“we have received calls of people wanting to boycott us, but hopefully something will come out ASAP from Corporate as a nationwide apology.”
Original Post 5/3 2:00 AM:
Why would Papa John’s make a marketing decision that has the potential to anger hundreds of thousands of Ohio customers?
Earlier tonight I attended the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers playoff game 6 at the Verizon Center in DC. Over the course of my night, one thing really surprised me. A few fans around the arena had shirts mocking Lebron James. The shirts had the number 23 on them, with the word “Crybaby” across the back. This kind of taunting is common at NBA arenas. But what was most shocking was that the shirts featured the Papa John’s logo, and appeared to be sponsored by, and paid for by, Papa John’s Pizza.
Lebron James is one of, if not THE most popular player in the NBA. Not only that, he is beloved in the state of Ohio. I was perplexed why Papa John’s Pizza would put their name on a t-shirt that so openly taunted such a well-liked athlete. The decision to sponsor these shirts seems incredibly ill advised.
The only rational would be if Papa John’s has a lot of franchises in Washington, DC, but none in the state of Ohio. However, as a national chain, I was skeptical that they didn’t have a presence in the state. Sure enough, a quick check on the Papa John’s website, using their restaurant locater, shows that there are TEN different Papa John’s pizza outlets just within 12 miles of the Cleveland Cavaliers arena.
So the question now is, why did Papa John’s decide to sponsor a promotion that will surely piss off a ton of Cavaliers fans and Ohio residents? Will Papa John’s start to lose business because angry residents don’t appreciate them openly mocking the most popular athlete in the state of Ohio? Will this end up hurting Papa John’s profits, or damage their company name? Will it lead to a boycott of Papa John’s by Cleveland Cavaliers fans?
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And yes here's an image
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BizMinded24
Joined: 20 Jan 2008
Posts: 438
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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 Thats pretty funny but very stupid business decision Papa John's made. |
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MakaveliThaDon
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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Horrible business decision... the marketing team needs to be fired.
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Lakeshow24
Joined: 30 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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INCREDIBLY stupid is an understatement. 
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shush
Joined: 03 May 2004
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| Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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i still wouldnt mind a free t-shirt of that.. dont hate if its speaking the truth.. lol
people just cant handle the truth
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LakerPride247
Joined: 24 Feb 2008
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Location: Dallas,TX
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 12:50 am Post subject: |
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| Nissan wrote: |
| Horrible business decision... the marketing team needs to be fired. |
It was done on an individual franchise basis. Their corporate office had nothing to do with those shirts. I'm assuming that the local franchise owner didn't think about how those shirts might cause a loss of business for other franchise locations in Cleveland. That person probably was just thinking about trying to increase sales at their own DC area franchises. If they had thought about it a bit they probably wouldn't have done it. |
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Enforcer
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 1:24 am Post subject: |
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| Whoever the genius is that thought it would be a good idea to make those shirts should be canned. |
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sarc4stic
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:10 am Post subject: |
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| Nissan wrote: |
| Horrible business decision... the marketing team needs to be fired. |
Seriously, what the hell were they thinking?
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mapabu1
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| That is beyond stupid |
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missmyzte
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Joined: 23 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 8:36 am Post subject: |
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It's funny!
And obviously the decision was made by the local franchise, not their corporate office. But boycotting a pizza place over this? Overreacting. People need to lighten up.
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Justin Bailey
Joined: 03 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 8:56 am Post subject: |
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Weird, I never even knew about this and I am the Marketing Director for Papa John's in my area.
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Xepa
Joined: 11 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 8:58 am Post subject: |
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Well, now it's the Washington Wizard's and papa john's profits that will be taking the role as crybaby as the Cavs beat the Wizards for the third damn year in a row.
Just my .02
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Senor Mortgage
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:26 am Post subject: |
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| In n Out could make a 24 rapist jersey and I would still eat their food. Who cares, its just for fun. |
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Basketball Fan
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:38 am Post subject: |
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| Senor Mortgage wrote: |
| In n Out could make a 24 rapist jersey and I would still eat their food. Who cares, its just for fun. |
There's a difference.. calling someone a rapist could be considered slanderous calling someone a crybaby is not the same thing.. |
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civilrage
Joined: 25 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:03 am Post subject: |
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Lebron poor guy getting shat upon
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Senor Mortgage
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: |
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| Basketball Fan wrote: |
| Senor Mortgage wrote: |
| In n Out could make a 24 rapist jersey and I would still eat their food. Who cares, its just for fun. |
There's a difference.. calling someone a rapist could be considered slanderous calling someone a crybaby is not the same thing.. |
Well obviously its different. I was just exaggerating for effect. |
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Lance Uppercut
Joined: 02 Nov 2006
Posts: 2060
Location: Here @ C.L
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| Basketball Fan wrote: |
| Senor Mortgage wrote: |
| In n Out could make a 24 rapist jersey and I would still eat their food. Who cares, its just for fun. |
There's a difference.. calling someone a rapist could be considered slanderous calling someone a crybaby is not the same thing.. |
You missed his point. If someone loves Papa John's or In n Out, they don't
care if they call someone a rapist, a crybaby or a douche, they'll still eat there as
long as they love the food.
Obviously it was a D.C individual franchise thing. I get what they were trying to do,
but it was a bad move.
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crazylakerfanforlife
Joined: 21 Nov 2007
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Location: LA
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:26 am Post subject: |
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lmao
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Basketball Fan
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 5215
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 10:33 am Post subject: |
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| Lance Uppercut wrote: |
| Basketball Fan wrote: |
| Senor Mortgage wrote: |
| In n Out could make a 24 rapist jersey and I would still eat their food. Who cares, its just for fun. |
There's a difference.. calling someone a rapist could be considered slanderous calling someone a crybaby is not the same thing.. |
You missed his point. If someone loves Papa John's or In n Out, they don't
care if they call someone a rapist, a crybaby or a douche, they'll still eat there as
long as they love the food.
Obviously it was a D.C individual franchise thing. I get what they were trying to do,
No I got his point but to refer to someone as a rapist/murderer etc can lead to a lawsuit.. this? Not so much just a bad PR move nothing more.
but it was a bad move. |
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Basketball Fan
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 5215
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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Update: PJ's is doing damage control
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/05/papa_johns_issues_apology_offe.html
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Papa John's issues apology, pizza deal
Posted by Laura Johnston May 04, 2008 18:30PM
Categories: Breaking News
Looks like Papa John's is eating humble pie.
Or rather, serving it up to Clevelanders - for a whopping 23 cents.
(Sorry about the cheesy pun. Oops, just did it again.)
The pizza chain issued an apology Sunday for the No. 23 T-shirts emblazoned with the word "Crybaby" and the Papa John's logo, which Washington Wizards fans flaunted during Friday's playoff game in Washington DC. To show the chain's sincerity, its more than 40 area stores on Thursday will sell customers a large one-topping pie for 23 cents.
The company will donate those 23 cents from every pizza, plus $10,000, to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.
"At Papa John's, we're huge fans of Cleveland, the Cavs and LeBron James," said the company statement. "Everyone wins, and we wish the same for the Cavs and LeBron through the playoffs."
The shirts stemmed from No. 23, LeBron James', complaints about hard fouls he thought were intended to injure. Wizards Center Brendan Haywood labeled him a crybaby.
Too bad the Cavs took Game 6 105-88. And we won 23-cent pizza.
Guess that makes it no harm, no foul.
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Kingsama
Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 3971
Location: Tejas
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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i want one of those shirts... ahhahaha,
and while im at it a 23 cent pie... oh the injustice of living in texas...
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Enforcer
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
Posts: 1790
Location: The internets
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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Good job on damage control by Papa John's
On a side note, they make pretty damn good pizza and I might order delivery later |
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lilkhmerkid4u
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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Location: Chattanooga,TN
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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10scott10
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 4752
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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the boldness of my promotion has made me decide to switch from dominos to papa johns.
it takes balls to alienate an entire city.
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sarc4stic
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Joined: 16 May 2005
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Enforcer wrote: |
| Good job on damage control by Papa John's |
_________________
Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult. Charlotte Whitton
If President Nixon's secretary, Rosemary Woods, had been Moses' secretary, there would only be eight commandments. Art Buchwald
^"I would have made a good Pope." Richard Nixon
www.un.org/ohrlls/ |
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Mr. Chicken
Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 1878
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| Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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The Washington market is much bigger than the market in Ohio.
...But still, stupid,stupid business decision by Papa John's. I wonder if that franchise will get in trouble for being such inept businessmen.
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Basketball Fan
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 5215
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 7:39 am Post subject: |
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| Mr. Chicken wrote: |
The Washington market is much bigger than the market in Ohio.
...But still, stupid,stupid business decision by Papa John's. I wonder if that franchise will get in trouble for being such inept businessmen. |
Someone will be fired no doubt...
Although I kind of wished someone made fun of the Colts like a Pizza Hut chain in Boston then we'd all alienate it and they would sell us Pizza's for .18 a pie to win us back  |
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MadMax
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Posts: 7815
Location: South Bay
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| Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 9:09 am Post subject: |
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| sarc4stic wrote: |
| Enforcer wrote: |
| Good job on damage control by Papa John's |
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