Domino's cheesier pizzas were developed and marketed with gov't funds

[charlie]

What's good for Domino's is good for the country, apparently. Meanwhile, the USDA runs campaigns to discourage fat consumption, for a nice virtuous circle of makework:

Domino’s Pizza was hurting early last year. Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain customers left the company tied for the worst tasting pies.

Then help arrived from an organization called Dairy Management. It teamed up with Domino’s to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign.

Consumers devoured the cheesier pizza, and sales soared by double digits. “This partnership is clearly working,” Brandon Solano, the Domino’s vice president for brand innovation, said in a statement to The New York Times.
...

And Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture — the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07fat.html

[bullwinkle428]

1. Wow. This is wrong on so many levels!

[Vinca]

2. This is nuts. Like subsidizing tobacco farmers is nuts.

[villager]

6. Or arms merchants...

n/t

[unblock]

17. this is, by form, worse than subsidizing tobacco

by substance, tobacco is worse than cheese, of course.

but by form, paying farmers, who often struggle and are at the mercy of uncontrollable forces, has its merit.
subzidizing ADVERTISING for a large chain restaurant is rather a different animal.

its analogy to tobacco would be like putting out psa's that encourage smoking.

[rfranklin]

3. Damned government interference in the free market!

We might have been free of Domino's Pizza if they had allowed the invisible hand to toss them into the dumpster.

[blondeatlast]

4. Once again, my hard-earned tax dollars pay for useless crap but not for health care.

Siiigh...

[Solly Mack]

5. Damn

K&R

[City Lights]

7. My tax dollars used to increase the sales of the 'pro-life' Domino's?

:argh: doesn't begin to describe my frustration!

[onehandle]

8. I never get pizzas from big chains. Plenty of other choices. nt

[Zephie]

9. And after all that, Dominos pizzas are still terrible.

If I HAVE to order from a chain (usually because I want delivery and the local shops don't deliver to my neck of the woods) I will order Hungry Howies. They're pretty good for the price and big box pizza chainy-ness.

[Marblehead]

10. WTF

where's the free market??

[PBS Poll-435]

11. It is even more disgusting now...

Good job!

[femrap]

12. Ain't the 'free market' grand? nt

[azurnoir]

13. when it comes to pizza several brands of frozen are better

than Domino's IMO, but on the fat from cheese consumption tip I can speak from experience a ouple of years ago I developed extreme lactose intolerance and it forced a change in my eating habits I was one of those triple cheese people, I have lost 45 pounds effortlessly in fact when I last visited the doctor I was pleasantly surprised at the scale something unusual for me, so eating less cheese is good for at least me and my cholesterol improved back to normal too

[Lucian]

19. My favorite frozen pizza is Amy's.

It's all natural, and the company makes pizza with no cheese. My favorite is Roasted Vegetable with no cheese.

http://www.amys.com/products/category_view.php?prod_category=3

[Lucian]

14. This is why I don't order pizza with cheese.

It's fatty, unhealthy, and leads to being overweight. And Dominos added 40% MORE cheese on their pizzas and the government funded the publicity campaign? Is the government trying to kill us? (rhetorical question)

[WiffenPoof]

15. This wouldn't be...

government cheese, would it?

-PLA

[NBachers]

16. I worked for Domino's in Kalamazoo back in the '70's

Owned by some of the most abusive, horrid, repulsive people of my entire work career. I'll still never buy Domino's based on that wretched experience.

But, believe it or not, Kalamazoo was a pretty hip little town back in those days.

[Broderick]

18. How come

I can't get government funding for my business? The big get bigger.

[hfojvt]

20. hey, there's no need for argument

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOXsqTnLRNk

[Stevenmarc]

21. As a NY'er......Domino’s Who?

Not exactly an average NY'ers go to place when we have hundreds of other better choices.

[TlalocW]

22. I've tried their new pies

They still suck.

TlalocW

[girl gone mad]

23. Corporate communism.

Maybe Domino's new advertising slogan can be "Better red than dead!" or "Government cheese: so good you won't mind paying twice".

[Renew Deal]

24. I don't see the conflict

They promote cheese and healthy eating. Cheese is healthy, if the correct amount is consumed. Doesn't sound like there's an issue here.

[leftstreet]

25. Where's my share of the profits?

:shrug:

[Brickbat]

26. Planned economy do what now?

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

27. I have not bought Domino's

since that bastard ruined the Detroit Tigers.