Australian Pizza Hut pulls animal giveaway promotion

A misprinted sign led people to believe that buying 10 pizzas would result in any customer getting a free hamster or guinea pig.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

Proofread. Then proofread again.

That’s the lesson we can all take from a Pizza Hut promotion gone wrong in Australia.

A Melbourne location advertised on a poster, “Buy any 10 large pizzas and get one free small animal from Pets Story.”(Pets Story is a local pet store.)

The poster claimed that conditions apply, and depicted a guinea pig. This was bad for a number of reasons, including the fact that most people who buy 10 pizzas for their own consumption could be ill prepared to properly care for a small mammal.

Pizza Hut apologized on its Facebook page:

As it turns out, the poster was missing a word: Kit.

The poster was supposed to say that you get a free animal kit, which would, indeed, put a responsible human on the path to being a decent small animal owner.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.