2020 has been a hell of a ride, so far. What with Australia's burning hellfires, a long-overdue uprising against systemic racism, the world on the brink of economic collapse, and who could forget about old mate COVID-19?
But apparently none have suffered more this year than the millions of women around the world who were cursed with the name Karen at birth.
That's why Domino's declared that, this week, they would be "taking the name Karen back" and celebrating "all the great Karens out there by shouting them a free pizza!”
However, backlash against Domino's has been swift — with people calling out the brand for simply jumping on a trend for PR sake, while ignoring more genuine issues.
@Dominos_AU There are so many GENUINELY marginalised people doing it tough right now/always, & you wanna give free pizza to... Karen? This misses the mark completely. Give pizza to people in poverty, people who can’t get a wage subsidy... people who are ACTUALLY struggling.
The same Twitter user also pointed out that the rhetoric surrounding "Karens" is an important discussion following recent movements like Black Lives Matter:
@Dominos_AU “Not all Karens” reeeeally isn’t the hot take you think it is. People are holding entitled white women to account for dangerous & often supremacist behaviour in the wake of some significant social movements like BLM & instead of supporting those movements you wanna do... this. 🙃
Another user pointed out that this was an issue that affected mostly privileged, white women:
@Dominos_AU most of the time “Karens” are entitled privileged white women. If a few people actually called Karen can’t handle the meme of it they should try handling 400 years of oppression. They should try watching their people killed by police officers solely for their skin.
@Dominos_AU this is like saying “gee straight white men are really having a tough time atm here’s free shit for ur already privileged asses” i’m bamboozled
Others, who were 'entitled' to enter the competition, also expressed their distaste for the stunt:
@Dominos_AU My name is Karen. Please don’t waste a pizza on me, MUCH rather you donate pizza (or, $) to local orgs and charities supporting those actually affected by the 2020 crises. Here’s some examples: https://t.co/k5HImGnLxw
In response to this tweet, Domino's said: "We do give hundreds of thousands of pizzas to key groups of people who need it, including our feeding the frontline activity which sees us donate thousands of pizzas to the hospitals, medical workers, and the homeless."
