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Domino’s Pizza unceremoniously pulled its Bad
Andy campaign early this year, and while the company website said
the move was based on a shift in advertising focus from pizza preparation
to delivery, TV viewers knew the real reason: Bad Andy was annoying.
He was obnoxious. “Bad Andy got some of the highest dislikability
ratings of any spokescharacter in the history of advertising,”
admits Tim McIntyre, vice president of corporate communications
at Domino’s. “Sales didn’t respond.”
Bad Andy, a brown critter who looked like a cross
between a monkey and a rat (“He wasn’t really meant to
be anything specific,” McIntyre says. “He was undefined
even for us.”) was shown to live in the back of a Domino’s
Pizza store, and his voracious appetite muddled up the store’s
operations. Despite the comic possibilities, the ads did little
to highlight the quality of Domino’s pizza or service, and
Bad Andy’s cavorting was more irritating that endearing. Besides,
the notion of a squirrel-like animal being holed up in the back
of a pizza joint was unappetizing to say the least. “It’s
impossible to create a positive association with a mascot that is
the antithesis of the brand,” says Elizabeth Goodgold, CEO
of San Diego naming and branding firm The Nuancing® Group. “That’s
always going to fail.”
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