• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 14, 2012

Putting aggressive digital marketing tactics on trial, Papa John's is facing a $250 million class-action lawsuit for spraying customers with illegal text messages.

“The plaintiffs allege that Papa John's franchises sent customers a total of 500,000 unwanted messages in early 2010,” reports CNNMoney.com. “The pizza franchises sent the text blasts through a mass text messaging service called OnTime4U, which is also a defendant in the case.”

“Some customers were getting as many as 17 messages a day, and they were even coming when they were asleep,” writes The Inquirer. “Let's face it, no one wants to buy 17 pizzas a day.”

“Papa John's has clearly been a little over-eager with its digital promotion,” remarks Gizmodo.

“The chain will be in trouble if it has violated The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which banned companies from sending ads and deals via text message without consent,” VentureBeat writes.

“If the judge decides that Papa John's is guilty of willfully sending the spam messages, this case could become one of the largest damages awards ever given under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act,” CNet reports.

“Papa John's denies any responsibility, of course, and instead blames ‘third-party vendors and a small number of franchises,’” according to Gawker.