Domino's drops 'free pizza for Karen' offer after being criticised as 'tone deaf'

Domino's Pizza in Australia and New Zealand has dropped a promotion offering free pizzas to women named Karen after being criticised online.

On Tuesday, the pizza chain launched the giveaway on their Facebook page for all of the “nice Karens” after the name became synonymous with middle-aged white women who want to speak to the manager.

Allan Collins, Domino’s chief marketing officer for Australia and New Zealand, explained that the company wanted to take “the name Karen back”.

“In 2020, ‘Karen’ is no longer content to speak to the manager. Now, she’s dobbing in her neighbours, refusing to quarantine, or wear a mask,” he said.

“Consequently, the name ‘Karen’ has become synonymous with anyone who is entitled, selfish and likes to complain. What used to be a lighthearted meme has become quite the insult to anyone actually named Karen.

“Well, today we’re taking the name Karen back. At Domino’s, we’re all about bringing people together and we want to celebrate all the great Karens out there by shouting them a free pizza!”

However, the promotion was met with backlash and criticised as tone-deaf by many social media users who said “Karen negativity” 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 they should try handling 400 years of oppression,” one person wrote on Twitter.

Another added: “When you wanna reward more privilege to the most privileged in our society.”

Meanwhile, others suggested the company should give free food to more deserving causes.

“Why not give pizza to those in need, those who can't afford to eat breakfast or lunch or dinner. What about those who lost their jobs due to covid-19? I am sure Karen will be ok,” one person wrote.

Another commented: “Really Domino's? There are so many more deserving groups and communities that you could be helping out but you choose to do a campaign for one of the more privileged groups of society?”

Following the backlash, Domino's quickly apologised for the offer on Facebook and confirmed that it had removed the promotion.

In the post, the company said it merely “wanted to bring a smile to customers who are doing the right thing – Karen the nurse, Karen the teacher, Karen the mum”.

Domino’s added that the promotion had come off “the back of a number of situations in Victoria, Australia [where] a person who decided they didn't have to follow the mandate and wear a mask and took it out on retail workers”.

“We are sorry. In New Zealand, because it lacked this important context, people interpreted this in a different way than we intended. We appreciate how this has happened and have listened – we’ve removed this post,” Domino’s wrote.

“Our intention was one of inclusivity only. Our pizza brings people together and we only had this at the heart of the giveaway. We want you to know that we are always listening and learning and when we get it wrong, we fix it. We are sorry.”

The backlash comes after a Starbucks customer was labelled “Karen” on social media after she was refused service for not wearing a mask.

Last month, Amber Gilles posted a photograph of San Diego barista Lenin Gutierrez on Facebook with the caption: “Meet lenen from Starbucks who refused to serve me cause I’m not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption.”

The woman’s post attracted widespread criticism, prompting many people to rally together to support Gutierrez.

One person even set up a GoFundMe page to raise tip money for Gutierrez, which has now reached more than $105,000 (£81,702).