'Papa' John Schnatter releases ad campaign begging you to love him again


Papa John loves you very, very much. He misses you "more than words can express!" Please, take him back, he implores.
Those are the general themes — and the literal words — of "Papa" John Schnatter's newest ad campaign, which reveals the hidden agony of a former pizza maven. With a website and a full-page newspaper ad launched Wednesday, the pizza chain's founder is lobbying you, his beautiful employees and customers, to love him again.
Schnatter understands if you're reluctant to trust him. He did claim NFL protests during the national anthem "hurt Papa John's shareholders" last November, which forced him into stepping down as CEO of Papa John's. And he did say the N-word on a role-playing call aimed at helping him fix his public image, which led to him resigning as chairman July 11 and being subsequently removed from all of the company's branding.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But Schnatter is "very sorry you all have to go through this," he says on SavePapaJohns.com. "I can only imagine how difficult this entire situation is on you," he writes, adding that you should "know that in every minute of every day you are all in my thoughts and prayers." Dearest pizza lovers, please know the same message appears in a full page ad in Wednesday's Louisville Courier Journal, the newspaper reports.
The Papa John's company released a statement Wednesday confirming it will not take him back, per the Courier Journal. But you, Papa John's beloved children, can still change your mind. Please, he begs, let him be your Papa again.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly Tuttle
Feature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!
Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitions
Feature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year