Dangerous, idiotic giveaway: Buy 10 pizzas and get a fluffy animal.

By SHAUNA ANDERSON

Some fast food restaurants give you a free McHappy meal.

Small fries for just a dollar if you’re lucky.

Or remember when you could collect those 10cm Buzz Lightyears?

But if you visit Pizza Hut at Mount Waverly in Melbourne you might just get a small fluffy animal to take home with your stuffed crust.

There is a catch though – you have to buy 10 pizzas.

Oh, and it’s illegal and morally reprehensible.

Pizza Hut has come under fire for a bizarre promotion at its Mount Waverley store which put up a sign offering customers a small animal from a local pet

store, if they bought ten pizzas.

In what must be one of the most ridiculous promotions in the history of marketing, the stunt was picked up by animal rights group Oscar’s Law, who are against the sale of animals in pet stores and posted the Pizza Hut sign to their Facebook page.

Customers took to the page – and to the Pizza Hut Australia Facebook site  to vent their disgust.

“A free animal from the pet store with every 10 pizzas??? That has to be the most irresponsible promotion ever. Shame on all involved.”

“Pets given away is wrong. Pets given away with food promos is bloody disgusting. You don’t deserve one star,”

“Small animals are not toys used to enhance sales. They are living, breathing things. How disgraceful to be treating them with such disrespect. Whoever came up with this promotion and/or approved it should be ashamed of themselves.”

Some even threatened to boycott the restaurant chain in protest.

The truly weird promotion – of which we would like to point out did have the disclaimer “conditions apply” (only one bunny per customer perhaps) – was hoping to give away small guinea pigs or rabbits according to Mashable.

Debra Tranter, the president of Oscar’s Law, told Mashable that the local pet store who were also involved in the promotion told her they would provide the guinea pig hutch and the water bottle and “would have made sure it was looked after”.

Thank goodness for that.

Late yesterday Pizza Hut responded to the furor saying they did not approve the deal, but that there was a bright side.

“We’ve just received some good news, it has just been confirmed that thankfully not a single animal was given out through the duration of the promotion. We know that this doesn’t fix anything but it is good news that we were very glad to receive nonetheless.” they wrote on their Facebook page.

They then went on to post a statement that read:

“We would like to sincerely apologise to anyone who was offended by this.

The poster has since been taken down and all those involved have been made aware of the severity and inappropriateness of the promotion.

We would like to thank Oscar’s Law and all those who have brought this to our attention this evening.

On behalf of Pizza Hut Australia we once again apologise for this thoughtless promotion ever occurring and would like to reassure you all that this matter is being seriously dealt with.

The pet store involved now also deny they were actually going to give away a pet, Mashable reporting that they claim the sign wasn’t “proof read” and they actually wanted to give away animal kits.

So those of you hoping for a white rabbit with your ham and pineapple will be sad to know that the deal is now off. You’ll have to stick to small plastic figurines.

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