Pizza Hut apologises for franchisee promotion offering free pets with pizzas
A Pizza Hut franchise in Victoria has come under fire from animal rights groups for running a promotion offering people who purchased 10 pizzas a “free small animal”.
Pizza Hut has since apologised for the promotion, which has now been withdrawn, running out of the Mount Waverley shop, saying it had not been approved by Pizza Hut Australia, “nor was condoned in any circumstances”.
The promotion was running in conjunction with a local pet shop Pets Story. It was promoted in-store with a poster outlining the deal.
The apology from Pizza Hut Australia, posted on the chain’s Facebook page last night, read:
“It has come to our attention that one of our stores have recently been running a promotion which was not approved by Pizza Hut Australia, nor was condoned in any circumstances. We would like to sincerely apologise to anyone who was offended by this.
The poster has since been taken down and all those involved have been made aware of the severity and inappropriateness of the promotion. We would like to thank Oscar’s Law and all those who have brought this to our attention this evening.
On behalf of Pizza Hut Australia we once again apologise for this thoughtless promotion ever occurring and would like to reassure you all that this matter is being seriously dealt with.”
Pizza Hut had been alerted to the unusual promotion by non-profit organisation Oscar’s Law, which is a campaign urging the Victorian government to end puppy factories.
Oscar’s Law president Debra Tranter told Mumbrella: “I got a call from one of our supporters who said they saw a sign offering a free small animal with 10 large pizzas, I thought it was a hoax, it was unbelievableI found out it was Mount Waverley so I drove down myself, I saw the signs myself and the pet store is two doors down.”
Tranter said she went into the pet store to speak to them about the promotion and despite suggesting it was a “misunderstanding”, the pet store agreed “it was a stupid idea” and “agreed to pull out of the deal”.
“Pizza Hut just covered the sign, they sticky-taped white paper over the signs,” Tranter continued, explaining that it was then she put it on Facebook.
“It only took two hours and Pizza Hut came out and made a statement. They acted pretty quickly, which I was impressed with.
It is quite clear that the public won’t accept use of animals in this way.”
Following the apology, Pizza Hut further clarified that no pet had been given away throughout the promotion, which had been running since September 1.
“We know that this doesn’t fix anything but it is good news that we were very glad to receive nonetheless,” Pizza Hut said on its Facebook page.
After posting the apology on Facebook, Pizza Hut received numerous comments asking why posts relating to the promotion had been removed from the social media site, with a number of users urging Pizza Hut to make a donation to Oscar’s Law and explain if the Mount Waverley store had been penalised for the stunt.
Pizza Hut was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
Miranda Ward
Damn…… I was looking forward to my thin n crispy ferret pizza. Surely has to taste better than the cold cat-food ones that they normaly deliver.
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speechless … I can only imagine what the South American version of this ad would look like
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This could spawn a whole new line of product extensions. I’m voting for the road kill pizza myself.
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Does Pizza Hut realise that guinea pigs are considered a delicacy in South America? That fat guinea pig on the pizza ad banner might give out the wrong idea!
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I did not see any mention of advice from the pizza providers not to feed all ten pizzas to their newly acquitted pet, or it might die. Where were the animal rights people on that problem?
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What moron at Pizza Hut Mt Waverley (VIC) came up with this deal? How are they capable of running a franchise properly if they think putting on such stupid promotions are a good idea for their business? Should Pizza Hut Australia review the promotions also given it’s their brand name at stake. Poor effort all around
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The irony…
Animal welfare issues surrounding giving away a small animal whilst ordering a pizza covered in the carcasses of abused animals.
People are weird.
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