Crass Stereotypes 'R Us

From an otherwise lacklustre New York Times article on the new Domnino's Brooklyn Pizza campaign. Something that made my head explode. Figuratively. The Times went to Totonno’s with a slice of the Domino's pizza and indignancy (A real word? Actually the new version of Firefox, with built-in spell-check, it says no) ensued. So far so hometown.

Then they ask hackneyed Brooklyn stereotype-monger Marty Markowitz what he thinks of the company's use of hackneyed Brooklyn stereotypes. And he says something amusing and insulting about the owner of Dominos:

That kind of imagery just grinds at Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president.

“It’s a multinational right-wing company, mass marketing the Brooklyn attitude with obsolete ethnic stereotypes, not to mention flimsy crusts,” he said through a spokesman.

Mr. Markowitz has yet to taste the Domino’s pizza. But that didn’t stop him from offering an opinion: “To our sophisticated palates, Domino’s is about as Brooklyn as Sara Lee Cheesecake is Junior’s.”

The right-wing reference is to Domino’s founder, Thomas S. Monaghan, who sold the company in 1998. He has supported the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue and earlier this year announced his intention to build a town called Ave Maria in Florida based on strict Roman Catholic principles.

Sort of like a cage-fight between Pol Pot and General Stroessner, it's probably best to watch this one from the sidelines. But right up until the Junior's reference (shut it about the cheesecake, already!) I was kind of rooting for the clown.