Will Vinton Studios, the creator of the California Raisins, also created the Noid, the mascot for Domino’s Pizza in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The commercials featured stop-motion animation by Tony Merrithew (tonymerrithew.blogspot.com) and the slogan, “Avoid the Noid.”
In 1989, Kenneth Lamar Noid thought the commercials were a personal attack on him and held two employees of an Atlanta, Georgia, Domino’s Pizza restaurant hostage for five hours. After forcing the employees to cook a free pizza for him, he surrendered to police, was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, extortion, and possession of a firearm during a crime, and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.
In 1990, Capcom produced a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System called Yo! Noid. It’s a classic, right up there with Mega Man and Street Fighter II…not.
