RW Domino's Using Stereotypes to market faux-Brooklyn Pizza

[mcscajun]

An older Italian woman yells out of a brownstone window. A man with the look of an extra from “The Sopranos” pumps iron on the roof. A Rosie O’Donnell lookalike berates a taxi driver for not folding his slice like a man. And there’s an African-American guy. You can’t hear what he’s saying because the rap music pouring from his car speakers is too loud.

That kind of imagery just grinds at Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president.

“It’s a multinational right-wing company, mass marketing the Brooklyn attitude with obsolete ethnic stereotypes, not to mention flimsy crusts,” he said through a spokesman.

Mr. Markowitz has yet to taste the Domino’s pizza. But that didn’t stop him from offering an opinion: “To our sophisticated palates, Domino’s is about as Brooklyn as Sara Lee Cheesecake is Junior’s.”

The right-wing reference is to Domino’s founder, Thomas S. Monaghan, who sold the company in 1998. He has supported the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue and earlier this year announced his intention to build a town called Ave Maria in Florida based on strict Roman Catholic principles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08domino.html

As if we needed any more reasons NOT to support RW Domino's, which has NOT strayed from its founders political principles. Domino's on BuyBlue.org



NOT a Domino's "pizza"

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. There is no way in hell...

That Dominos's could market a pizza that could pass muster with the stray dogs in Brooklyn, much less people.

Let's see Domino's go to Bay Ridge and film some commercials with the people there, getting their opinions after tasting their crap. It would be comedy gold.

[Teaser]

2. Everyone knows Domino's blows

how do they stay afloat? I can get Pizza that's better, faster, from my local.

[Liberal Veteran]

I'd rather gnaw on a rusty nail than eat a Domiblows pizza.

It's like they managed to mix their owner's politics right into the compressed cardboard they try to pass off as dough.

[mcscajun]

6. Ha!

:rofl:

Priceless commentary...dead on. :)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. I live in NJ.

The pie will make you cry, it's so good. Still, we have Domino's. I cannot understand how coals can be brought to Newcastle.

[mcscajun]

9. NJ Pizza (what I've found for the last 17 years anyway) isn't bad

but it can't compare to the pizza I grew up with in The Bronx and upper Manhattan.

:sigh:

This article makes me want to take a road trip into Brooklyn, or at LEAST to Patsy's in upper Manhattan.

[Lefty48197]

Same way McDonalds sells so damn many burgers

They win by default.

[Kerrytravelers]

3. Can you really start a town and dictate how people who live there prefer to

live their lives? Can you start a town and say "NO... non-Catholics, GLBT people, no... anyone who doesn't live by my rules?"

:scared:

[mcscajun]

8. You can, with enough money and with a friendly state government

For Tom Monaghan, the devout Catholic who founded Domino's Pizza and is now bankrolling most of the initial $400 million cost of the project, Ave Maria is the culmination of a lifetime devoted to spreading his own strict interpretation of Catholicism. Though he says nonbelievers are welcome, Monaghan clearly wants the community to embody his conservative values. He controls all the commercial real estate in town (along with his developing partner, Barron Collier Cos.) and is asking pharmacies not to carry contraceptives. If forced to choose between two otherwise comparable drugstores, Barron Collier would favor the one that honored that request, says its president and CEO, Paul Marinelli. Discussing his life as a millionaire Catholic who puts his money where his faith is, Monaghan says: "I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines."

The ACLU of Florida is worried about how he's playing the game. "It is completely naive to think this first attempt will be their last," says executive director Howard Simon. Armed with a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that "ownership does not always mean absolute dominion," Simon will be watching Ave Maria for any signs of Monaghan's request's becoming a demand. Planned Parenthood is similarly alarmed. So far, Naples Community Hospital, which plans to open a clinic in Ave Maria Town, says it will not prescribe any birth control to students. Will others be able to get the pill? "For the general public, the answer is probably yes, but not definitely yes," says hospital point man Edgardo Tenreiro. The Florida attorney general's office says the issue of limiting access will likely have to be worked out in court. Barron Collier and Monaghan say they're following Florida law.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11434439/site/newsweek/

[HockeyMom]

14. $500,000+ homes and 5+ kids?

We will see how many of those there are. Or perhaps they got their "permanent" birth control before moving in?

[mcscajun]

16. There must be enough; according to the article, there have been 7,000

inquiries about the 11,000 available homes.

[soothsayer]

5. That commercial TOTALLY makes me want to try this pizza!

It's the folding that got me. Looks so greasy and good! So...I guess it's an effective commercial. Are people really offended? Have they ever been to the Bronx, lol?

[Bozita]

7. Domino's CEO was the campaign manager for Dick (Amway) DeVos

David Brandon, iirc.

[Lefty48197]

12. Brandon is definately a right winger that we shouldn't turn our backs on

I'm not sure if he was involved in the DeVos campaign. Betsy DeVos wouldn't let too many people move in on her run for Governor ...OOOOOOOPS. I mean her HUSBAND'S run for Governor.
Brandon just got removed from the University of Michigan Board of Regents, by a Democrat. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, because it will give him a lot of time to think about what he wants to do next.

[Bozita]

17. Dominos CEO Brandon Tapped to Head DeVos Campaign

http://www.absolutemichigan.com/food&dining/?articleid=1959

Dominos CEO Brandon Tapped to Head DeVos Campaign

Crain's Detroit Business reports that Domino's Pizza Inc. Chairman and CEO David Brandon will chair the gubernatorial campaign of west Michigan businessman Dick DeVos. Brandon is also the former finance chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and the DeVos camp hopes he will help elevate DeVos' profile in Southeast Michigan.

Read Domino's CEO to head DeVos' campaign for governor; Brandon is former state GOP finance chairman from Crain's Detroit Business
DeVos for Michigan website

[AnneD]

10. One time....

in the late 80's I received a call from a major opinion poll. I was asked about Domino's. Did I ever let them have it. I let them know that I never, ever knowingly ate a Domino's pizza because of the owner's political views on women and his donations. The guy was so shocked (remember this was before the internet)and had a hard time grasping the fact that I had never eaten a Domino's Pizza. Since then I have unknowing had a slice. It sucked and my opinion hadn't changed and neither has my purchasing pattern.

[mcscajun]

11. Good job!

And Good Taste. :)

Real beats faux every time, no matter the price differential or the "convenience" level.

[Fuzz]

13. I'm partial to New Haven pizza

Give me a Sally's, Pepe's or Modern's pie anyday. Old brick ovens, thin, crips, yet chewy crusts.



Damn, gotta get some when I go visit my folks this Thanksgiving.

:D

[mcscajun]

15. Coal-fired brick ovens are key.

Everything else will fall neatly into place. :)

[donsu]

18. long before I knew they were owned by neo cons, I hated the taste of

their pizza.

I make my own, but if I ever get to the mainland and Brooklyn, I'll give Brooklyn pizzarias a try.