Pizza Hut is trying some new crusts and toppings in an attempt to coax Americans back under its formerly red roofs. We sent a colleague to try them out, and she reported back that the 21 varieties of new toppings and crusts she tried were nice, but not spectacular. Therefore, Pizza Hut has apparently turned to reverse psychology to sell their new offerings.

That’s the only logic that we can see in this marketing campaign based around a taste test with the elders (who may or may not be acting) of an unnamed Italian village. The message to take home seems to be, “These old farts don’t like the idea of jeggings, mobile pizza ordering, or the idea of pretzel pizza crust, so you probably will, because they are old and you are nothing like them!”

We will find out soon enough whether Pizza Hut’s flavor explosion is successful in reaching young, sriracha-loving consumers. The footage with the elderly Italians has also been sliced down into smaller ad chunks, so get ready to see this campaign on television or on streaming sites, where young people actually are.

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