It’s a tough time to be a Karen, which is why Domino’s wanted to do some good and send some free pizza their way.
Domino’s was offering 100 Australians named Karen the chance to win free pizza. To enter, they simply needed to upload photo ID confirming their name is Karen, and tell Domino’s in 250 words or less how you’re one of the ‘nice’ ones.
Sounds lovely and fun, right? Well, the PR stunt has appeared to massively backfire, with people calling out the pizza brand for jumping on a trend for PR sake while ignoring more important issues currently going on.
There are so many GENUINELY marginalised people doing it tough right now/always, & you wanna give free pizza to… Karen? This misses the mark completely. Give pizza to people in poverty, people who can’t get a wage subsidy… people who are ACTUALLY struggling. pic.twitter.com/Pdd54DsqO4
— Alanah Parkin 🏳️⚧️ (@AlanahParkin) July 28, 2020
The same user called out Domino’s for not supporting important movements like BLM.
“Not all Karens” reeeeally isn’t the hot take you think it is. People are holding entitled white women to account for dangerous & often supremacist behaviour in the wake of some significant social movements like BLM & instead of supporting those movements you wanna do… this. 🙃
— Alanah Parkin 🏳️⚧️ (@AlanahParkin) July 28, 2020
Another user said this was an issue that affected mostly privileged, white women.
most of the time “Karens” are entitled privileged white women. If a few people actually called Karen can’t handle the meme of it they should try handling 400 years of oppression. They should try watching their people killed by police officers solely for their skin.
— ariel reyes (@aramreyess) July 29, 2020
The same user added: This is like saying “gee straight white men are really having a tough time atm here’s free shit for ur already privileged asses”. I’m bamboozled.”
A Twitter user by the name Karen said: “My name is Karen. Please don’t waste a pizza on me, MUCH rather you donate pizza (or, $) to local orgs and charities supporting those actually affected by the 2020 crises.”
In response to this tweet, Domino’s said: “We do give hundreds of thousands of pizzas to key groups of people who need it, including our feeding the frontline activity which sees us donate thousands of pizzas to the hospitals, medical workers, and the homeless.”
Domino’s NZ responded to the backlash on its Facebook page saying it was simply trying “to bring a smile to customer’s faces”
https://www.facebook.com/DominosNZ/posts/10157760919412462
Domino’s Australia has yet to respond.
