Not‚ says ASA to Roman’s Pizza hot dot – it belongs to Debonairs

09 December 2016 - 18:53 By TMG Digital
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Roman’s Pizza has been ordered to drop the advert that irked a competitor‚ Debonairs.

Tomato, pesto and prosciutto pizza.
Tomato, pesto and prosciutto pizza.
Image: Gallo Images / Fairlady / Dirk Pieters

Advertising agency FCB Joburg lodged a competitor complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on behalf of Famous Brands Management Company against Roman’s Pizza over a billboard alongside the N1 in Cape Town.

The Roman’s Pizza logo‚ together with the payoff line "Best Pizza‚ Best Value”‚ appeared on the left side of the billboard. On the right is a red dot with a question mark and the words: “Hot or not. We don’t need stickers to tell us we’re hot.”

Famous Brands said Debonairs had introduced the unique "Hot or Not (red) Dot” concept in 2008 and no competitor offered a similar benefit to consumers.

“The media investment in this initial introduction of the unique ‘Hot or Not (red) Dot’ concept was approximately R3 million ….

“Debonairs sells well over 35 million pizzas annually and annually invest well over R8.5 million in the unique ‘Hot or Not Dot’ stickers. The concept is also promoted on every take-away menu‚ in every Debonairs restaurant‚ and on Debonairs’ website.”

The red dot‚ argued Famous Brands‚ had become the “signature” of Debonairs Pizza and their rival’s billboard was taking advantage of that by copying part of their advertising.

Attorneys Savage Jooste & Adams‚ responding on behalf of Roman’s Pizza‚ said Debonairs had a red dot with the wording "Hot and Fresh” on it‚ not "Hot or Not”.

Debonairs did not have an exclusive right to use a red circle with wordings inside it‚ they argued. Debonairs was also not the only product using a sticker on their product - so does Castle Lite.

The ASA weighed up the arguments and has found in favour of Famous Brands.

“Given that there appears to be no logical link between the reference to ‘stickers’ and the message that Roman’s Pizza is ‘hot’‚ and given that the ‘Hot or Not Dot’ concept has been exclusively used for many years by the complainant‚ it appears that the most likely interpretation to be attributed to the billboard – including the red dot‚ the reference to ‘Hot or Not’‚ and the reference to ‘stickers’ – is that it is referring to Debonairs’ ‘Hot or Not Dot’ concept‚” said the ASA.

“The billboard advertisement discredits and disparages Debonairs’ concept‚” it added.

Roman’s Pizza was instructed to remove the billboard‚ withdraw the advert and not use it again.

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