Politics

The Democratic Party Will Not Have A Slogan That Sounds Like Papa John’s

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The banner will be “A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future.”

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Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

House and Senate Democrats this coming week are poised to unveil a new government platform geared around populist policy suggestions.

And it won’t be done under a banner that evokes thoughts of Papa John’s pizza.

The party’s slogan, according to numerous sources, is set to be “A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future” and not, as previously reported, “A Better Deal: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages." (Capitol Hill sources noted that this could, however, change before next week.)

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The line is meant to draw a contrast to both the Trump administration’s agenda and to Trump himself, with one Democratic source noting that it plays off the president’s self-perpetuated image as an expert deal maker. Another senior Democratic congressional aide said the new messaging will hammer away at “jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs.”

The party has long been trying to develop a cohesive message. In June, they settled on the concept of a “Better Deal.” But on Thursday, it was reported that they’d chosen “Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages” as the second part of the official Democratic Party mantra. Myriad observers noted that the phrase sounded uncomfortably similar to the famous, longtime “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza, Papa John’s” corporate ad slogan. Various publications from Fox News and Newsweek ran with headlines dinging the Democrats for ripping off Papa John’s. The Republican National Committee sent out a mocking email titled: “It's not delivery, it's The Democrats.” (wrong pizza concept, but you get the point).

Sources told The Daily Beast on Friday afternoon that senior Democratic aides and communicators had kicked around a number of different slogans and framework, of which “Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages" was one.

Multiple Democrats on the Hill speculated that a lawmaker discussed it as an option but that it was subsequently reported by Vox as the final choice.