2012 Papa John's Boycott

2012 Papa John's Boycott

Part of a series on Obamacare. [View Related Entries]

Updated Aug 11, 2015 at 02:47AM EDT by Brad.

Added Nov 12, 2012 at 03:03PM EST by Don.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

GIVES AWAY 2 MILLION FREE PIZZAS FOR NFLPROMO CAN'T AFFORD BASIC HEALTHCARE FOR WORKERS. PAPA JUN Better Incredients Aguckiheme.co


Overview

Papa John's Boycott refers to an online campaign against the take-out and pizza delivery restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza. The boycott was launched in November of 2012 in response to statements by Papa John's CEO John Schnatter regarding the health care reform legislation known as Patient Protection and Afforable Care Act (also known as "Obamacare").

Background

On August 1st, 2012, Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter made several statements in a conference call regarding the potential costs to the company that may arise as a result of Obamacare legislation (shown below). On August 7th, the poltical blog Politico[2] published an article about the conference call titled "Papa John's: 'Obamacare' will raise pizza prices."



"Our best estimate is that the Obamacare will cost 11 to 14 cents per pizza, or 15 to 20 cents per order from a corporate basis."

"We're not supportive of Obamacare, like most businesses in our industry. But our business model and unit economics are about as ideal as you can get for a food company to absorb Obamacare."

"If Obamacare is in fact not repealed, we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders best interests."

Following Obama’s re-election on November 7th, the Floridia news site Naples News[3] quoted Schnatter saying he may cut employee hours to avoid paying for employee health insurance under the new health care reform laws.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

On October 4th, 2011, the first Facebook[8] group calling for a boycott of Papa John's was created after a delivery driver turned in a medical marijuana user to the police.[9] The page has since been changed to reflect a boycott based on Schnatter's Obamacare stance. Following Schnatter's statements made in August of 2012, the first boycotts related to Obamacare were reported by several news media sites, including Salon[10], the Huffington Post[11], CNBC[12] and Twitchy.[13] Mashable[14] reported that Papa John's score on the YouGov Brand Index, which averages positive and negative reviews of a brand on the web, had dropped from 100 to 49.


18+ WHO You Gov DULTATEN FAS FOOD Quality Value Reputation Satisfaction Recommend Attentiorn Buzz Index Impression 1150 110 PIZZA PAPA JOHNS 120 90 70 60 50 10 08/09/2012 oB/o3/2012 08/07/2012 08/o1/2012 Latest data is from 08/09/2012

On November 12th, the boycott was discussed in a thread on the Democratic Underground forums.[19] The controversy was also reported by several news sites and political blogs, including the Christian Post[20], Opposing Views[21] and Twitchy.[22] The conservative group Reboot USA[25] called for a National Papa Johns Appreciation Day to be held on November 16th[26], similar to the one organized for Chick-Fil-A in August during their gay marriage controversy.

On Reddit

On November 11th, Redditor Awkward_Arab submitted a post titled "Papa John's House" to the /r/pics[4] subreddit, which featured an aerial photograph of Schnatter's 40,000 square foot castle in a country club of Louisville, Kentucky (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post received over 25,900 up votes and 5000 comments.



The same day, Redditor goforRepear submitted a post calling for a boycott of Papa John's to the /r/politics[5] subreddit, which received over 21,400 up votes and 4,700 comments within the first 24 hours. On November 12th, Redditor Radioactive24 submitted a post titled "Good Guy Little Caesars" to the /r/AdviceAnimal[7] subreddit, featuring an image macro of the Little Caesar's logo with the caption "Owners are Republicans / Give employees health insurance, 401K's, and pizzas are still $5" (shown below, left). Several hours later, Redditor multile submitted a post titled "Good Guy Local Pizza Shop Owner,"[6] which included an image macro of a pizza restaurant worker with the caption "Isn't a millionaire / makes better pizza than chain stores and sponsors local baseball team" (shown below, right).


OWNERSARE REPUBLICANS GIVE EMPLOYEES HEALTH INSURANCE401K'S AND PIZZASARESTIL S uickmeme.com ISNT A MILLIONAIRE RI MAKES BETTER PIZZA THAN THE CHAIN STORES AND SPONSORS LOCAL BASEBALL TEAM quickmeme.comm

Scumbag John Schnatter

Following Schnatter's Obamacare statements in November of 2012, a "Scumbag John Schnatter Quickmeme[1] page was created, featuring a photograph of Schnatter accompanied by captions portraying him as greedy and unethical (shown below).


HAS 50000 SQUARE FOOT MANSION DECRIES HEALTHCARE FOR HIS WORKERS WHO MADE HIM RICH PAPA Jur y of Jirn Rollo HAS PLENTY OF DOUGH DOESN'T REALLY KNEAD THE MONEY PAPA JOHN y of Jirn Rollo Anguickihame.com MAKES PIZZA THAT TASTES LIKESHIT TREATS HIS WORKERS THE SAME WAY APA JUnN Better Incredients Courtesy of Jim Rollo ucheme.com

On Twitter

Following Schnatter's threats to cut employee hours due in November, the hashtags #BoycottPapaJohn,[16] #BoycottPapaJohns[17] and #PapaDouche[18] began circulating on Twitter. In response, fans of the chain proudly tweeted their praise, often including pictures of pizzas they ordered with the hashtag #IStandWithPapaJohns.[23][24]



Search Interest

External References

[1] Quickmeme – Scumbag John Schnatter

[2] Politico – Papa John's – Obamacare will raise pizza prices

[3] NaplesNews – Papa John's CEO – Obamacare likely you raise costs

[4] Reddit – Papa John's House

[5] Reddit – There are plenty of places to get cheap shitty pizza

[6] Reddit – Good Guy Local Pizza Shop Owner The unsung hero of the pizza battle

[7] Reddit – Good Guy Little Caesars – Winner of the Pizza Dispute

[8] Facebook – Boycott PAPA Johns

[9] Huffington Post – Medical Pot User Turned In By Pizza Delivery Man (VIDEO)

[10] Salon – Papa John's pizza extortion

[11] Huffington Post – Papa John's Pizza To Raise Prices Because Of Obamacare, CEO John Schnatter Says

[12] CNBC – Papa John's CEO John Schnatter Blasts Obamacare

[13] Twitchy – Papa John’s becomes latest boycott target after opposing Obamacare; class warfare ensues

[14] Mashable – Papa John’s Obamacare Stance Spurs Social Media Attack

[15] Fox News – CEO of Papa John's says employees' hours will likely be cut due to ObamaCare

[16] Twitter – Tweets using #boycottpapajohn

[17] Twitter – Tweets using #boycottpapajohns

[18] Twitter – Tweets using #PapaDouche

[19] Democratic Underground – About boycotts of Papa Johns, Applebee's, etc. . . .

[20] Christian Post – Papa Johns Boycott: Outrage Over Obama Reelection Job Threats

[21] Opposing Views – Boycott Papa John's Over Corporate Greed

[22] Twitchy – Libs call for boycott of Papa John’s as CEO anticipates cut in workers’ hours

[23] Twitchy – Lib boycott fail redux: Citizens stand with targeted Papa John’s, plan National Appreciation Day

[24] Twitter – Tweets using #IStandWithPapaJohns

[25] Twitter – @Reboot_USA

[26] Fox News – National Papa John's Appreciation Day

Recent Videos

There are no videos currently available.

Recent Images 26 total


Top Comments

Timstuff
Timstuff

Honestly, you'd have to create low-skill jobs as a full-time position with the upcoming healthcare law. It makes a lot more sense to hire twice as many employees and only let them work half as many hours, and that's what a lot of employers are going to do. The new normal is going to be that a lot more people are just plain going to have to work multiple jobs from now on, and they will still have to pay for their own health insurance. It's not like the government is allowed to mandate how many employees a business is allowed to have or what the minimum number of hours they can work is.

+21

+ Add a Comment

Comments (64)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Namaste! You must login or signup first!