Domino’s Pizza unceremoniously pulled its Bad Andy campaign early this year, and while the company website said the move was based on a shift in advertising focus from pizza preparation to delivery, TV viewers knew the real reason: Bad Andy was annoying. He was obnoxious. “Bad Andy got some of the highest dislikability ratings of any spokescharacter in the history of advertising,” admits Tim McIntyre, vice president of corporate communications at Domino’s. “Sales didn’t respond.”

Bad Andy, a brown critter who looked like a cross between a monkey and a rat (“He wasn’t really meant to be anything specific,” McIntyre says. “He was undefined even for us.”) was shown to live in the back of a Domino’s Pizza store, and his voracious appetite muddled up the store’s operations. Despite the comic possibilities, the ads did little to highlight the quality of Domino’s pizza or service, and Bad Andy’s cavorting was more irritating that endearing. Besides, the notion of a squirrel-like animal being holed up in the back of a pizza joint was unappetizing to say the least. “It’s impossible to create a positive association with a mascot that is the antithesis of the brand,” says Elizabeth Goodgold, CEO of San Diego naming and branding firm The Nuancing® Group. “That’s always going to fail.”

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