It was a college student's dream come true last weekend when Papa John's showed up outside several College House parties to give out free pizza slices to hoards of hungry students. Students rushed for the individually boxed slices. Best of all, there was no catch. The students grabbed a few slices and went on their merry way.
General Manager of the Brunswick branch of Papa John's Denise Whitmore said that this is all part of the store's new promotion targeting Bowdoin College students.
"I love my college kids," said Whitmore. "We started this last weekend and plan to continue it for the next couple of weekends."
Whitmore said that it was too soon to tell if the promotion has boosted sales from Bowdoin students.
This should come as great news to students like Carlo Davis '12, who received a few free slices last Friday night outside of Helmreich House.
"I was overjoyed," said Davis. "I love free pizza. It's one of those things it's hard to be against. I don't object to it generally."
However, Director of Student Life Allen Delong said he sees some problems in Papa John's promotion. It goes directly against the College's solicitation policy, which says the College does not approve of solicitation of students, faculty or staff because of disruption to campus activities or implications that the College endorses the featured product.
"It's tough for me to say that I'm suddenly that guy who's against free pizza," said Delong. "Who wants to be that person?"
According to Delong, Papa John's failed to ask the College for permission to implement this new promotion, and if they had, the answer would have been no.
Davis said he assumed the free give-a-way was sponsored by the school or was funded by a student activity group. If it were, the College would have supported it, according to Delong.
While distributing free pizza to students might seem like a trivial issue, Delong worries about the precedent it might set for other companies.
"What I am disappointed in is other corporations or companies could feel like it's OK to do this commando raid on campus. You could be accosted in the student union, in your residence hall, on your way to class by someone who inevitably wants to sell you something," said Delong.
While the College might put a stop to this new promotion before this weekend, Papa John's shouldn't worry about its loyal following among some Bowdoin students, like Davis.
"I think of them first," said Davis. "Actually I used to be a Dominos guy but when I came to Maine, everyone I knew was all about the Papa John's. I guess it's where everyone orders from, I don't know any one who orders from the other places unless they are, like, craving a pasta bowl."