A string of negative Papa John’s headlines sparked by a Forbes exposé has left America’s fourth-largest pizza chain and its founder John Schnatter with few defenders in the marketing world. After Adweek reported on a large wave of layoffs at AOR Laundry Service that were attributed to “client attrition” across multiple accounts, Forbes reported the agency had resigned the business after Schnatter used the N-word and made other insensitive statements during a May training call designed to help him avoid controversies.
A contentious back-and-forth between Schnatter and the agency then ensued, with the now former chairman confirming these reports but claiming that Laundry Service had pressured him into the conversation and tried to “extort” the company for $6 million. An internal memo from agency leaders called the charges “completely false”…
