It’s safe to say that sex and pizza don’t mix. Especially in Dominos case. The kinky-looking Dominos ad was unofficially released this week to promote their new Sriracha Pizza. The ad was tied to the upcoming release of 50 Shades of Grey, but it seems they have missed the mark.
Spokesman Tim McIntyre told PEOPLE the print advertisement was “created and pitched by an agency to the independent franchise in Israel,” but only appeared online because it was leaked. “It never ‘officially’ appeared anywhere, because it was ill-advised, unfunny and not brand-appropriate. In a word, it was stupid.”
When we tweeted out the campaign, Dominos responded with this:
@AmelianTips Thanks for reaching out. This was created with unauthorized use of our branding. The people responsible are being dealt with.
— Domino’s Pizza (@dominos) January 28, 2015
What’s curious to us is that despite Dominos’ tweet to us, it seems like the ad is, in fact, legit. It first appeared a few days ago on Ads of the World and attributed to McCann Erickson Israel:
The ad was prepared for Dominos’ franchisee in Israel, which is not owned by Domino’s Pizza. Apparently the franchisee’s marketing manager rejected the ad, which was nevertheless leaked online.
Apparently contributing to the ad were McCann’s Executive Creative Director Ami Alush, Copywriter Ido Mymon, and Art Director Moran Kal.
Either way: we’re willing to bet even Christian Grey would draw the line at pizza-related bondage.