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At a certain point, the world that you grew up in ceases to exist. Those of us who remember it carry it with us in srprising ways in our memories.
This Pizza Hut ad is an almost overwhelming dose of nostalgia. The classic Pizza Hut logo almost accomplishes that by itself, but then you add in Boomer Music and Little League baseball, and it just goes over the top. For a lot of people – such as myself – the ad leaves one wondering how he knows all the words to this song and why I’m he is now crying. (Just kidding, I haven’t cried since seeing Turner and Hooch at around the same time this ad came out. I’ll never forgive Craig T. Nelson.)
I have two strong associations with the ad. 1) I played one season of baseball in my life. I was a former right-fielder and this ad came out when I was roughly that age, playing right field, I hit my first home run on my birthday, we won our league’s championship, and I am tempted to get my team’s championship trophy out (yes, I still have it) when I hear it. 2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, on VHS, used to play this ad right before the movie started. I never fast-forwarded through it because it might as well have been part of the movie.
It’s difficult to explain to moderners the hold that Classic Pizza Hut has on a lot of Americans. A big percentage of today’s adults developed a love for reading from the pizza chain’s “Book It” program. (If you read enough books, you got a free personal pan pizza.)
There was a time when eating inside a Pizza Hut was something you aspired to as a young person in the United States. From the warm, cozy, and beautiful red decor, with the Tiffany-ish hanging lamps, and the red cups (!) this was the place to be and to be seen. It was one of the coolest (non-skating) birthday party locations. Pizza Hut benefited a lot from timing. The chain pizza place still had a lot of its original mom and pop charm, despite being a national chain. As a result, a lot of America ended up sharing a very similar experience that did not exist prior to chain restaurants, and died a few years later when the chain dining experience’s soul was removed in favor of corporate nothingness.
I do have good news, though. Apparently Pizza Hut has realized the error of its ways and is rolling back the hands of time, makin’ it great once again.
In 2019, Pizza Hut brought back its 1974 logo, banking on its nostalgic appeal. I figured that would be the end of it, just a simple marketing tactic soon forgotten. There were no plans announced to bring back the logo in stores, much less redesign the restaurants to look like old Pizza Huts from the chain’s heyday.
But with no fanfare whatsoever, that’s exactly what’s been happening. Pizza Hut has been taking legacy stores and converting them into “Classics.” The formula includes:
- The old logo is used in pole signage as well as at the top of the (usually but not always) red-roofed restaurant. The pole sign features the addition of the word “Classic.”
- The interior features cozy red booths and old-school Pizza Hut lamps.
- Stickers featuring the long-discarded character Pizza Hut Pete are found on the door.
- Posters feature classic photos from Pizza Huts of yore.
- A plaque displays a quote from Pizza Hut co-founder Dan Carney, explaining the concept as a celebration of the brand’s heritage.
I might be more loyal to the Classic Pizza Hut brand than most. When I was in grade school, and my family moved from our small town to the big city, my small town principal and class threw me a surprise going away party at the local Pizza Hut. I kept the big banner with all my classmates’ signatures for three decades. I once reflected (with only a little hindsight) that the party was a bit like attending my own funeral. But with that being the case, I cannot imagine a better place to be remembered (either by myself or by others) than in the original Pizza Hut.