Marketing

Pizza Hut Middle East creates pasta approved by Italians. Kind of.

Photo: Pizza Hut Middle East

January 26, 2026

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Pizza Hut Middle East has just launched pasta, according to a press release.

The brand served its pasta to a group of Italians and a debate ensued in their new marketing campaign.

"We know our pasta isn't what most would call conventional," Ahmad Hasan, marketing manager at Pizza Hut Middle East, said in the release. "But that's what Pizza Hut is all about. Instead of hiding from it, we took it head-on. And it worked! Challenging something as sacred as Italian pasta felt like the natural next step for a brand that's never played it safe (as you've all seen on our pizzas). We've always built our menu by doing what others wouldn't, and proving that great taste doesn't have to follow the rules. That's why none of our menu items do."

But the experiment was only the beginning of the campaign. They later expanded into a short documentary that dives into the emotional tension between the two very different groups of Italians.

On social, Pizza Hut leans into humor and self-awareness by posting the reactions and quotes pulled directly from the shoot, but intentionally taken out of context to create bite-size moments of comedy and gags.

"When a brand is brave enough to laugh at itself, that's when people truly connect," Augusto Correia, creative director at Publicis Middle East, said in the release. "It makes the brand feel real and relatable. Honesty is human. Perfection isn't. And perfection never made anyone laugh."