There’s no denying the power of marketing; as Jerry Mander wrote in Four Arguments For the Elimination of Television, “The program is only the excuse to get you to watch the advertising. Without the ads there would be no programs. Advertising is the true content of television.” There is a lot of hard work placed into new campaigns and ads for brands all over the world, with many commercials ultimately costing more than some episodes of TV shows. A new campaign can make or break a company, as has been seen a few times over history. With high stakes come high rewards — and sometimes high consequences.

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Some ads became iconic over time for a variety of brands, from shoes to the military itself. The ‘I Want You’ poster with Uncle Sam for the U.S. army was able to translate what was expected of society during wartime. Some more recent examples are Nike’s 1988 campaign that launched the catchphrase still used today, ‘Just do it.’ This one is more simple, but represents the sports brand effectively. However, there are some marketing campaigns that not only don’t work but have disastrous consequences.

A recent scandal has been the Balenciaga holiday campaign and its relation to child pornography – which brought a lot of other details in past campaigns to the surface that are connected with the same subject. There was one incident that became famous back in the 80s, where a food chain campaign accidentally motivated an armed hostage situation. The beloved but villainous mascot of Domino’s pizza was responsible for endangering the lives of two employees.

Here are what happened and the possible outcomes of this story today.

Who Was the Noid From Domino’s

     Domino's

In the colorful 80s, two food chains were fighting to dominate the pizza market: Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Because of an ongoing battle with who sold more pizzas and was more popular overall, there was a heavy investment in marketing. This led to one of Domino’s most successful marketing campaigns — the Noid.

The Noid (that comes from the nickname given to employees, Dominoids) was a weird man dressed in a red rabbit costume. The whole point of the mascot was to convince customers how they would receive their pizzas in perfect condition. The fear of pizzas getting cold during delivery led to the company’s guarantee: if the pizza doesn’t arrive in 30 minutes, it’s free. That was when the Noid would come into the picture; he was the villain that would do anything to try to stop Domino’s to deliver its orders.

No one imagined the success this weird character would have, so much so that he was even in a Michael Jackson video clip, and was actually being considered for a Sunday morning cartoon series. The company was in the process of making merchandise based on the cartoon. When everything was going even better than according to plan, a terrifying hostage situation, influenced by the commercials, happened.

What Happened to the Noid?

Kenneth Lamar Noid was 22 years old and was having (according to him) a mental battle with the owner of Domino’s, because he thought the commercials were directed towards him since they shared a name. Kenneth Noid expressed that he thought the company was making fun of him. Because the villainous character was so famous, he must have heard numerous jokes about ‘Avoid the Noid,’ one of the catchphrases used in the commercials. Eventually, the anguished and possibly schizophrenic young adult had enough and decided to take matters into his own hands.

Kenneth Lamar Noid entered a Domino’s outlet on a Monday and held two employees at gunpoint for approximately five hours with a .357 magnum revolver with him. Noid’s demands are a bit uncertain, as there are conflicting reports, but the overall consensus is that he demanded $100,000, a getaway car, and a copy of Robert Anton Wilson’s book The Widow’s Son. He ultimately asked his hostages to make him a pizza; while he was eating it, they managed to escape.

     Activision

Thankfully, even though he fired his gun twice, no one was injured. Noid was taken into custody on the same day of his crime but was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and spent some time in a mental institution. However, the Kenneth’s despair regarding the mascot associated with him only increased after the kidnapping, as the media used the idea of the Noid (mascot) as both the villain and the actual person. The marketing machine marched on, despite the tragedy, with the commercials continuing to air and bring even more attention to Domino’s after what happened. Sadly, Kenneth Lamar Noid died by suicide in 1995, ending the Noid campaign for good – until 2021, when Domino’s decided to bring it back for video games, commercials, and more. Money has no morality, and marketing is money.

Hostage Movies

     Hulu

Hostage movies are always fun to watch: they have high risks and interesting conflicts at every corner. With the true crime genre only getting bigger every year, the question naturally arises: could there possibly be an inspired by or based on a movie on what happened in a Domino’s store back in the 80s? There have been various hostage movies based on real-life occurrences, such as the 2015 movie Cleveland Abduction or the excellent recent film Breaking. There’s even the acclaimed limited series that depicts a different type of hostage situation, a mom who makes her daughter ill in The Act.

So, since criminal cases that actually happened are becoming a strong source of material for streaming services and production companies overall, it is safe to say that nothing is off the table. If the depictions of the real people and events are respected and remain as close as they can to what happened, there isn’t a huge problem in turning this story into a two-hour movie or limited series. The most important thing is to be able to respect everyone involved, and if that is not the case, then the idea of adapting this case should be dropped. Noid has suffered enough.