Domino's Pulls Ads From MTV's "Jersey Shore"

(MoneyWatch)  Domino's Pizza (DPZ) has pulled its ads from MTV's "Jersey Shore," the MTV show about a bunch of "Guidos" who live in a beach house in Sleazeside Seaside Heights, N.J. "The content of this particular program is not right for Domino's Pizza," the company said, in a statement that is being widely interpreted as a veiled criticism that the show is somehow "racist" against Italian-Americans.

Much of the show's "racism" (I'm using that term in quotes because I'm not sure that Italians constitute a "race") is generated by the show's own stars. The show is billed as being about "hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos." Here's the N.Y. Times' description:

Their beach house, in Seaside Heights, N.J., has on its garage door a map of the state painted over a giant Italian flag. And while the subjects profess a certain amount of pride in their ethnic heritage, they persistently refer to themselves and one another as "Guidos," a term that in previous generations was a derogatory nickname for Italian-Americans, many of whom still consider the term to be offensive.

André DiMino, the president of Unico National, an Italian-American group, says:

"I don't see any redeeming value in the show. They are an embarrassment to themselves and to their families."

So there you have it: Domino's is either fighting the good fight against anti-Italian-America racism or it's a self-hating Guido pizza chain. You decide.