Pizza Hut recently rolled out an interesting PR stunt by offering anyone free pizza for life if they asked President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney if they preferred "Sausage or Pepperoni?" at the presidential debate.
After the stunt triggered backlash last week, Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum Brands, said it is moving the promotion online, where a contestant will be randomly selected to win free pizza for life.
Pizza Hut was offering anyone a lifetime supple of pizza during the live, town hall-style debate. The winner would win one large pizza a week for 30 years, or a check for $15,600. However, Pizza Hut was inundated with negative backlash by the challenge.
"Some of the attention we received was not positive," said Kurt Kane, chief marketing officer in a statement. "So, we decided the question was better served online than in the debate itself. He said that moving the contest online was a "natural progression of the campaign" after people got excited about the idea and "wished they could get in on it."
Pizza Hut says it will still award the prize if anyone does pose the question live at the debate on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 Wednesday GMT) in Hempstead, New York. The Pizza Party will then randomly choose one voter and reward them with free pizza for life.
But it's encouraging everyone to participate in the new online version, where contestants must enter their email addresses and zip codes to be eligible. The company will award two prizes if someone does ask the question.
