My colleague Emily just wrote a great post about not bashing your competition but what about intentionally bashing yourself or your own brand? This week Domino’s Pizza unveiled a new ad campaign that takes quite a jab at its own product.

These new campaigns focus on the less positive qualities of Domino’s Pizza and boldly state ‘their crust taste like cardboard and their sauce like ketchup.’

My question is: Is it ever a good idea to bash your own brand?

Rebranding can be a challenging project for any company, but the strategy behind a rebrand is often more important than the ‘new and improved’ image. While Domino’s Pizza’s ad agency is known for making bold statements, I wonder what focus group research, if any, was done to determine that customers were unhappy with its pizza. Domino’s Pizza’s ads give the impression that Twitter was an important source of customer feedback. With the rebrand, Domino’s has tried to off-set its own harsh critics with less-obvious tactics designed to show the favorability of its new product.

What do you think of Domino’s Pizza’s marketing direction? Will customers internalize too many former negative qualities that Domino’s is bringing to light or will customers embrace the new product?