Pizza Hut Gets Flak For Name Confusion

(MoneyWatch)  Pizza Hut has been experimenting with name variations for a while now, re-branding some locations as "Pasta Hut" and labeling some pizza boxes and other materials with the name "The Hut."

But now, an explosion of negative publicity has prompted the company to issue the following statement:

"Pizza Hut is not changing its name. We are proud of our name and heritage and will continue to be Pizza Hut. We do use 'The Hut' in some of our marketing efforts," said Brian Niccol, CMO, Pizza Hut, Inc.

"To the loyal fans of Pizza Hut and pizza lovers around the world, we're happy to tell you that nothing is changing, we're still Pizza Hut, America's Favorite Pizza."

Apparently "The Hut" was supposed to be hip and modern and easy to tweet or text about. And Pasta Hut, of course, is supposed to give the chain a healthier aura. But the experimentation with the different names has ultimately just served to confuse people.

And the clarification hasn't really helped. An article about the name on the Consumerist is now topped with an update clarifying that Pizza Hut is not changing its name: "'The Hut' is a secondary branding mark, or something like that."

Exactly. "Or something like that." No one knows what's going on anymore. That's not exactly a good thing for a brand.

Plus, the association with Jabba certainly doesn't help.