Papa John's Is Betting Bad Grammar Will Distract Us from All That Nasty Racism
Papa John's has a plan to make us forget about that unpleasant "racism" drama that went down this summer. To purge our minds of all Papa John's-related muck, the pizza chain is-drum roll please-dropping the apostrophe. If the paperwork goes through, Papa John's will henceforth be known as "Papa Johns."
Get used to the bad grammar: Papa Johns. Papa Johns. Papa Johns.
Ad Age reports that Papa John's International Inc. submitted filings to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in August that indicate the company is rebranding as Papa Johns with a freshly designed logo (still in the green and red color scheme with a black and white version, as you can see) and a shortened slogan. Instead of "Better ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John's." we'll be hearing "Better ingredients. Better Pizza." And the apostrophe, intended to convey ownership, is gone. This is a shocking upset. The old Papa John's is dead, replaced by nearly identical Papa Johns.
Now, about all that racism. John Schnatter, the OG Papa and founder, allegedly used the N-word during a company call in May. This was after he blamed kneeling NFL protesters for bad pizza sales, getting Papa John's dubbed the "official pizza of the alt-right" by some white supremacists; Schnatter stepped down as CEO. Schnatter apologized for the N-word incident, then resigned as chairman. A subsequent Forbes report alleged Schnatter fostered a "bro culture" and engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct at Papa John's, which Schnatter largely disputed. Schnatter remains the largest Papa John's shareholder. He also has a website dedicated to "getting the truth out there" called savepapajohns.com.
But Papa John's does not want Papa John to save Papa John's while it becomes Papa Johns.
According to Ad Age it takes about four months to get filings through the patent office, so the changes could go public in early 2019. However, Papa John's has made smaller adjustments in the months since Schnatter self-destructed. His face is no longer used on boxes or in commercials. A new ad campaign launched this weeks puts the spotlight on Papa John's employees-specifically, those who aren't white men.
Until 2019, we wait. And while we wait, we can ponder: Does Papa Johns imply there are multiple Papas at the helm? Is the chain inventing an unfortunate last name, Johns? Is it simply hoping we will shut up and eat the mediocre pizza? The last one. Definitely the last one.
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