Nostalgia, with Extra Cheese.
Hey, hey! Guess who’s back? Looks like Domino’s has dug up the 1980s and ‘90s advertising character and spokespest “The Noid.” Remember him?
Bucked teeth. A red outfit that inexplicably resembled a sex gimp bunny suit. (Side note: we have our theories about that.) The Noid’s sole job was to cause chaos with pizza delivery back when a 30-minutes-or-less delivery was a mark of customer happiness and a perfectly good replacement for taste and quality. We were implored repeatedly to “Avoid the Noid.”
The original Noid was launched in 1986 to the raucous sounds of collective eye rolls. Why would we want to associate with an anti-mascot? The Noid was something to avoid, yet he was all over our radios and TVs. (No real interwebs to speak of back then, kids.) Today you’ll be asked to Avoid the Noid in a lot more places that you undoubtedly will not be able to avoid.
Back to the ‘80s. Domino’s persisted and the anti-mascot Noid became a cultural touchstone of the time – you know, like Hammer Pants. Cue the side shuffle dance.
So, obviously, the question is, “Why now?” After all, the original Noid era of Domino’s was marred by poor service and pizza so bad you’d rather eat the box it came in. On-time delivery was only one of their problems.
While we remember the Noid as being the character that everyone loved to hate, the ploy must have worked. Since home delivery is more essential today than ever (looking at you, ‘rona), Domino’s playing up their efficient delivery service combined with their improved pizza quality could be a game changer compared to other delivery competitors.
There’s only one problem. Besides being an annoying bugaboo, this character’s history comes loaded with a few other...um...issues.
Almost 30 years later, the Noid’s current foe is sooo 2021: driverless delivery vehicles. While these Mars rover-type solutions are cool, loaded with whizbang technology and bolstered by tests showing them to be a safe alternative to human driven vehicles piloted by semi-stoned ne’er-do-wells, news reports of driverless vehicles arriving safely don’t make the news. The handful of crashes do. So, one part of the Domino’s proposition finds itself in the news for the wrong reason.
And there’s another reason even more serious than semi-mangled pizza robots.
Although it’s been decades, Domino’s is having to spend time and energy to comment on a story that coincided with the Noid’s original disappearance. Three years into the original Noid launch, a nasty news story erupted about a guy who stormed an Atlanta-area Domino’s and held employees hostage because he believed the pizza maker was specifically mocking and taunting him through their advertising. Kenneth Noid eventually let the employee hostages go, was arrested, tried and found not guilty by reason of insanity.
So our friend The Noid has a past more checkered than a pizzeria tablecloth. And yet, here we are. So is the nostalgia really worth it? You be the judge.
To hear about several iconic ad mascots that have outlasted the Noid tenfold, check our Ad Mascots episode now. And if you enjoy a slice or two while doing so, we won’t judge whether it came from your front door or your icebox. Unless it doesn’t have stuffed crust. That’s one innovation we should all be able to get behind.