Controversial Ad Campaign – Defamatory Pizza Box Marketing

A new form of advertising has sparked quite the controversy in Cincinatti. The private legal battles faced between divorced parents have been made public with new ad campaigns on pizza boxes.

The marketing technique has successfully brought media attention to child support issues, but has overstepped moral lines when it comes to privacy issues. Specifically, the ads have been deemed a disparagement against innocent children.

Cincinnati dads are being put on the spot by the Butler County Child Enforcement Agency for not paying child support. Now in the public eye for all to see, these fathers have been humiliated by local children’s rights activists trying to raise awareness of unpaid child support issues. The agency placed photos of local fathers who had not made their child support payments on the delivery boxes of pizza parlors in the area.

The Fatherhood Educational Institute is disgraced at the public humiliation these men have been subjected to. Jeff Leving, President of in the instate said, “If I was a child and saw my dad’s picture on a pizza box, I’d be humiliated and shamed.”

Leving adds that children shouldn’t be dragged into the conflicts between their parents.

Even if the children of these fathers don’t see the ads themselves, surely classmates, friends, teachers, neighbours or other community members will. Leving worries that having a parent face defamation also publicly belittles the child.

This approach to marketing has affectively caught the eye of the press and is getting scads of media attention. The fact that it involved a controversial subject matter surely helped the BCCEA gain publicity, but the advertising concept may still be one to keep an eye on.