The Noid is an advertising character for Domino's Pizza created in the 1980s. Clad in a red, skin-tight, rabbit-eared body suit with a black N inscribed in a white circle on his chest, the Noid was a physical manifestation of all the challenges inherent in getting a pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less. Though persistent, his efforts were repeatedly thwarted.
History[]
The Noid was created in 1986 by Group 243, the advertising agency of record for Domino's Pizza. Group 243 hired Will Vinton Studios to sketch the Noid and animate the commercials. The Noid character design was chosen by Christopher Baker and Brian Baker, sons of Scott Baker, master franchisor for the European market at the time, from a collection of prototypes. Commercials that featured the character used the slogan "Avoid the Noid." The character was voiced by Pons Maar.
In 1988 a Saturday morning cartoon series called The Noids was planned by CBS that would have featured the Noid, but the series was scrapped amid complaints that it was merely an advertising ploy and not a show for children.
As part of the advertising campaign, a computer game was released in 1989 called Avoid the Noid. The object of the game is to deliver a pizza within a half-hour time limit in an apartment building swarming with Noids (some of which are armed with pizza-seeking missiles or water balloons). The common version is version 1.0 and has CGA graphics and PC speaker sound effects, although version 1.1 also exists which added support for EGA graphics and Adlib music. In 1990, Capcom released a different video game, Yo! Noid, for the NES.
Decline[]
Kenneth Lamar Noid[]
On January 30, 1989, Kenneth Lamar Noid, a mentally ill man who thought the ad campaign was a personal attack on himself, entered a Domino's restaurant in Chamblee, Georgia, armed with a .357 Magnum and held two employees hostage for over five hours. After telling the employees that Domino's owner Tom Monaghan had stolen his name, he forced them to call Domino's headquarters and demand $100,000 and a white limousine as getaway transportation. After offering to exchange one hostage for a copy of The Widow's Son, Noid reneged on his offer after a police officer brought him the book. Noid eventually became hungry and forced the employees to make him two special pizzas. While Noid ate the pizzas with his gun in his lap, the hostages escaped. Noid surrendered to the police shortly after. Two shots were fired by Noid during the incident.After the incident, Police Chief Reed Miller told reporters, "He's paranoid." Noid was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, extortion, and possession of a firearm during a crime. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Noid spent time in a mental institution, but died by suicide in 1995. This incident has been insinuated to have caused Domino's Pizza to discontinue advertising using the Noid as their mascot, though this has been rejected by the company and advertisers.
Return of the Noid[]
Domino's brought the Noid back for a limited run of 1,000 T-shirts in December 2009. On May 4, 2011, the Noid was brought back as a promotional figure by Domino's to be used in a campaign on their Facebook page, and made a brief appearance as a stuffed toy at the end of a May 2011 commercial promoting a one-topping pizza deal. The 25th birthday of the Noid mascot was marked with the video game The Noid's Super Pizza Shootout, a tribute to Avoid the Noid.
In June 2016, Spooky Pinball LLC announced the release of their new licensed pinball machine, Domino's Spectacular Pinball Adventure prominently featuring The Noid character.
During 2016, the Noid appeared and was referenced in some Domino's commercials, as part of their USA "Pizza Payback" campaign.
The Noid was seen tattooed on the arm of a winner of shares of Domino's stock, in a commercial aired during the NFL playoffs, January 15, 2017.
In August 2017, a fan-made sequel to Yo! Noid was created for the New Jam City 2017 game jam called Yo! Noid 2: Enter the Void.
The Noid can be seen briefly in the background of a 2017 Domino's ad.
The Noid can be seen as the print on a stop sign in the background of a Domino's ad campaign (advertising GPS notifications with mobile order) as of February 2020.
The Noid has returned at least as of April 2021 in a series of brief video ads on social media sites, in which the Noid's face can be seen in a disruptive flash of video glitches over a shot of a meal included in a coupon promotion. Domino's officially confirmed the return of The Noid later in the month, and he was subsequently included in the mobile game Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! as part of a tie-in promotion for the restaurant.
On April 26, 2021, The Noid officially returned in an advertisement about a potential self-driving pizza delivery service provided by Nuro's R2 robot. In the 30 second commercial, The Noid attempts to stop the self-driving robot via various slapstick means such as chainsawing a tree to crush it, and creating and inflating a massive float of himself to block the road, but is unable to do so. The Narrator states that "(the self driving robot)'s got someone back to their old habits," and that one can "avoid The Noid" by purchasing a then concurrent pizza deal. He is now a CGI character designed by Artjai.
References in popular culture[]
The Noid has been referred to in popular culture, including two episodes of Family Guy (an altercation with Mayor West in the episode "Deep Throats" and vomiting into a toilet while Bill Cosby holds his ears in the episode "Peter's Sister"), in two episodes of 30 Rock, in a segment of Michael Jackson: Moonwalker and in two episodes of The Simpsons, once as a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon in the episode "Homer vs. Dignity," and the other in person in the episode "She of Little Faith". The Noid is referred to in the 19th episode of season 2 of The Goldbergs (set in the 1980s), when Barry lands a job delivering pizzas and is told how important it is to "avoid the Noid". He is so bad at his job, the boss eventually accuses Barry of being the Noid. The Noid is referenced by the Rooster Teeth card based party game ”Million Dollars, But” in a card included in the 1980s theme pack. The Noid can be seen on a napkin in the 1990 live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. In season 3, episode 12 of the NBC sitcom “30 Rock”, titled “Larry King” (2009) a videotape that’s said to date from 1987 has the character of GE executive Don Geiss saying, “Avoid the noid.” Episode 139 of the podcast Chapo Trap House, titled "Enter the Noid", features a riff about the Noid, and the character also makes an appearance in their 2018 tour promotional video. A new version of The Noid was created in the video game Dark Souls for the Polygon video series Monster Factory, created by Justin and Griffin McElroy.