JUST IN: Papa John’s May Not Buy Super Bowl Ad After Kneelers Forced Their CEO To Resign…

There are some companies that if you really sit down to think about it you have to wonder when exactly the last time that they ran a commercial.

For example, when was the last time you saw an advertisement for a loaf of bread on television? Anyway, my point is that if you are well known enough of a company you don’t really need to run any kind of ads.

Super Bowl is coming up and people pay as much attention to the commercials as they do to the game itself and sometimes more than the game.

Papa John’s has advertised itself as the “official pizza of the National Football League,” but now reports say the chain is thinking of canceling its ads during this year’s Super Bowl.

After months of controversy over its NFL connections, the fast-food chain has not confirmed its participation in the upcoming event, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

“We currently do not have a Super Bowl spot booked or produced, but are exploring our options in and around the game,” Papa John’s chief marketing officer Brandon Rhoten said. “I didn’t buy my Super Bowl spot last year until the Monday before the game, so you never know.”

Further complicating the pizza chain’s decision, is the controversy over comments by founder and now former CEO John Schnatter who said in October that the pizza chain had lost millions due to the NFL’s anthem protests.

As founder of the company, Schnatter was also the face of Papa John’s on commercials on radio and TV. But now that he has been ousted as CEO his status as the brand’s spokesman has likely come to an end.

Still, despite Schnatter’s controversial comments, Papa John’s has hinted that the company does not feel beholden to the NFL.

“We can’t be beholden to their success. … We’ll take advantage of it, and when they win, we’ll win. But when they’re not doing as well, we don’t want to suffer,” Rhoten recently told Ad Age.

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