Instant Alert: Papa John's has a new ad where it teases changing its name to erase its disgraced founder

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Papa John's has a new ad where it teases changing its name to erase its disgraced founder

by Kate Taylor on Sep 19, 2018, 9:56 AM

Papa John's has a new ad campaign that attempts to replace the voice of its disgraced founder with those of franchisees and employees.
The first commercial of the campaign ends by flipping through a number of names — Papa Kiersten's, Papa Daniel's, Papa Brant's — before ending on Papa John's.
Following backlash against Papa John's founder and namesake, John Schnatter, and his very public separation from the pizza chain, the company has been plagued with questions about how it will move forward.

Papa John's has a new ad campaign that attempts to replace the voice of its disgraced founder with a more diverse array of perspectives.

On Tuesday, the pizza chain launched a new campaign that the company says "spotlights the voices and faces that make up the 120,000 strong Papa John's family." The first advertisement in the campaign is a 60 second online spot, featuring 24 people who own and operate Papa John's locations.

"You've heard one voice of Papa John's for a long time," one franchisee says.

"It's time you heard from all of us," another continues.

The ad closes by flipping through a number of names — Papa Kiersten's, Papa Daniel's, Papa Brant's — before ending on Papa John's.

Following the backlash in recent months against Papa John's founder, John Schnatter, and his very public separation from the pizza chain, the company has been plagued with questions about how it will move forward. Schnatter kicked off a major crisis for the brand in July, when Forbes reported the then-chairman had used the n-word in a company conference call.

Since then, Papa John's sales have plummeted.

The company reported that sales fell 10.5% in North America in July. Executives said on a call with investors in August that Papa John's planned to spend between $30 million and $50 million over the rest of the year on costs related to the scandal, including removing Schnatter from marketing, an internal audit, and additional legal costs.