A Pizza Slice too far, McDonalds

Never mess with an Italian chef’s joie de vie, his baby; his pizza. This is a lesson that fast food chain McDonalds has learnt too late, after getting on the wrong side of the True Neapolitan Pizza Association.

A few days ago, McDonalds released an ad promoting its Happy Meal. Pretty standard, right? But, in the process the ad appeared to ‘insult’ pizza, traditional Italian fare. Watch the video below to see how it managed to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBdD-H6uf70

As a response, the True Neapolitan Pizza Association, which represents pizza makers all over Italy is threatening legal action against McDonalds. They’ve dubbed the ad “blasphemous”, and called it “a dishonourable attack against one of the symbols of the Mediterranean diet.” To further show you how seriously they take their pizza here’s a fun fact: the True Neapolitan Pizza Association requires that any pizza in the world calling itself Neapolitan be up to their prescribed standards. Otherwise, the pizza can’t be named ‘Neapolitan’.

In lieu of the ad, and presumably while they contact their lawyers and build their case, the Association has released a spoof video of the McDonalds ad. Watch it below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQKIlgkOxlc

There’s a lesson to be learnt from this. Come rain, come shine or come flying pigs, don’t insult Italian pizza. Ever.