Meatsa Meatsa! (That should really be Meatza Meatza. {Or Mizza Mizza?})
This was one of my favorite ads from the 1990s! But it got pulled, if I remember correctly, because it offended some people. But I thought that was the whole point! The complainers were never going to go to Little Caesar’s anyway, so who cares?
But seriously, when this ad came on in 1991, it was the perfect blowback to a decade of Deadheads and hippie wannabes, and the whole anti-meat thing hadn’t really caught hold yet. But you know, maybe this was the victorious battle that inspired all the anti-meat and anti-fur activists to really get cracking. And hey, they’d beaten a major pizza chain, so tomorrow the world, right? That’s why it’s best to never give in to these people: give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile. Want proof? Ask McDonald’s: they made a new healthy menu and everything, added calorie counts, etc.; but did it help them with this crowd? No! They just bitched more and more, demanding more and more things until McDonald’s finally said: “Up yours, hippies!” (They should have said that at the very beginning!)
If you’re going to make a meat anything, some hippies will get mad. Take it as a badge of honor! Unless you’re successful enough, or good enough to become successful, they will never waste any time on you. And Little Caesar’s should have known better. This was a great ad for the ages! But there’s barely any notice of it ever happening now, and that’s a shame, because it was one of the all-time greats! They never should have pulled it.
And the kicker is, most people I know remember this being an ad for Pizza Hut (!). But with the “Meatsa Meatsa” tag, it’s definitely for Little Caesar’s! But they might not have been blamed for it anyway, so they should have kept running it! Then Pizza Hut would have taken the heat. (Hey, now that's an idea: How about making ads for your competition that get them in trouble with everyone? That way you'll get all their business when everyone turns against them! It can't miss!)
Here’s the activist activating ad:
