Karma smacks Papa John on the ass....

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

YouGov Score on Election Day = 32. YouGov Score Today = 4

Anti-Obamacare rhetoric from Papa John’s CEO and a major Applebee’s franchise owner appear to have driven down both chains’ consumer perception with casual dining eaters in the US, and are still impacted two weeks after those remarks were made.

Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter’s post-Election Day comments about passing on health care reform costs by reducing worker hours and raising prices coincides with a swift negative reaction among casual food diners seemingly accelerated by the November 13th class action lawsuit accusing Papa John's of sending unsolicited text messages to customers.

Despite Schnatter’s Huffington Post op-ed on November 20th claiming his words were twisted, Papa John’s perception levels continued to experience one of its sharpest drops of the year, sending it well below rival Pizza Hut.

Denny and Applebee's also experienced precipitous drops in public perception -- although Denny's has somewhat rebounded after the CEO issued a strong rebuttal of his franchisee's earlier statements.

http://www.brandindex.com/article/anti-obamacare-rhetoric-buzz

[JaneyVee]

1. Ironically, getting rid of these establishments would dramatically lower healthcare costs.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

4. I know...

There are few chain establishment where one can eat that AREN'T bad for your health. The Missus & I were in a Buffalo Wild Wings a few months ago -- killing time because of some child-related activity -- and the menu there has the calorie count for every item. So you'd think: Chicken wings, how bad can they be?

We ordered the salad. Which still wasn't great, but it was miles ahead of everything else.

[DonRedwood]

9. one chain has, on their healthier eating menu a salad that has over 3000 calories....

can't remember which one so I won't smear them all but.... I'm on a strict heart-related diet and I don't even go into chain restaurants anymore.

We tried a steak house on my birthday (I've had red meat twice in the past year) but they didn't have a light dressing and you'd have though I ordered grilled baby puppy when I asked if they had fat free sour cream.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

13. I've had the grilled baby puppy, and it's delicious!(nt)

[CountAllVotes]

16. right you are!

All of this crap food is junk food and it is NOT GOOD FOR YOU!

To hell w/Papa John's Pizza and Applebee's. I've never been to Applebee's I am proud to say. As for Papa John's Pizza, it is a killer I know that much, overloaded w/fatty cheese and sheer crap.

I do my own cooking right here at home where the heart is.

[Scuba]

2. It was reported that Schnatter lost $140M in stock value over his little tantrum.

[LonePirate]

8. Oh the irony! Serves him right for being an idiot tea bagged.

[SomethingFishy]

14. Which is hilarious considering that his complaint was

Obamacare was going to cost Papa Johns 8 million a year...

[LisaLynne]

3. They were buying the RW propaganda and didn't realize that ...

the public actually supports Obamacare. Helping people destroy the reps of their companies: Just another service provided by Faux News.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. My unscientific survey...

seemed to indicate that more businesses were displaying signs supporting the GOP than in previous years. I think these business owners were deluded into thinking that the nation was solidly behind Romney, and there was no harm in "riding the wave" on this matter.

Your business should ALWAYS be strictly a-political.

[DonRedwood]

10. I thought so too...either Faux was really pushing each and every one or they really thought they had

bought up the election and could say whatever they wanted. My guess is they figured Romney's big tax cuts to the rich would have made up for any business lost from playing politics.

[Irishonly]

19. I agree with you

I will not go into businesses displaying political signs. I don't want to know or care what a business owner's political views are. I also would complain to management if a worker in a store started talking politics.

When Bush and Gore ran one of our favorite mom and pop restaurants had a Bush sign. We refused to eat there and then when all hell broke loose after the election they put up some sort of "We are all Americans-they election is over" We still haven't returned. Another store had campaign signs for local candidates. Our local elections are supposed to be nonpartisan but these days, nothing is.

[fredamae]

6. It's a matter of Health on Many Levels n/t

[dawg]

7. That's fascinating.

Who would have ever thought that pissing off 53% of your customer base wouldn't be good for business?

I'll have to admit it. It burns me up to know that "geniuses" like these guys are what society considers successful.

[unblock]

11. i wonder if it cost him more or less than the $0.14 per pizza he claimed obamacare would cost him?

i know, i know, it's a moving target with them selling fewer and fewer pizzas....

[melody]

17. Their desire isn't to save money, it's to be cruel to the underlings of the world

It's all about a boot in the face to the serfs.

[kelliekat44]

24. ++1,000 NT

[Whovian]

12. Any businessman worth his or her salt should know not to

publicly espouse his religious or political feelings for risk of losing a large segment of the population as potential customers. However, in the last election the RW circle jerk had them believing that the whole world thought just like them. Lots of Fundies, Teabaggers and Republicans seem to feel that way and are confused as hell when their myopic world view turns out to be false.

[Lex]

15. +1

It is a super stupid business move to publicly endorse any particular political or religious allegiance.

I have a small business and I have very strong political opinions, but they do not show up at work for clients to see. No reason to, really.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Exactly.

[unblock]

20. exactly. they hire the republican party to be the face of soulless greed so they don't have to.

[LTR]

21. The DU mobile site agrees

At the bottom of this thread, on my page, is an ad for Pizza Hut!

[Cha]

22. That's what they all say when something doesn't go over as

well as they thought. "It was taken out of context.. it was twisted"

[Blue Owl]

23. Poor Plop-In John's