• Cincinnati Enquirer, Friday, April 3, 2009 11 AM

In an apparent excess of holiday cheer, Domino's created an online-only promotion in December for a free pizza using the codeword "bailout." It never got the green light.

Monday night, an "enterprising customer" discovered the deal by typing the word into a search engine. By the time Internet virality had had its way and the offer was shut down at 11 a.m. Tuesday, nearly 11,000 pizzas had been given away. "It had never technically been activated, but we hadn't turned it off, either," says Tim McIntyre, Domino's vp of communications.

"I started getting calls at about 10 a.m. from managers asking what was going on. I said I had no idea," says John Glass, owner of 14 Domino's franchises in the Cincinnati area. "I called corporate, they had no idea at the time. No one seemed to have any idea, everyone was scrambling. It all kind of snowballed." "Corporate" says it will reimburse the franchisees.

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