Random Acts of Pasta
Submission 5,880
Overview
Random Acts of Pasta is a charitable project launched by Utah resident Matt Tribe to provide free meals for his friends and later, strangers and homeless people, through exploiting American restaurant chain Olive Garden's "Never Ending Pasta Pass," a promotional discount program that offers its members unlimited meals for seven weeks for a one-time payment of $100.
Background
On September 8th, 2014, Matt Tribe of Salt Lake City, Utah signed up for Olive Garden's limited-quantity "Never Ending Pasta Pass" program, which allows its cardholders unlimited pasta for seven weeks for a one-time payment of $100, after reading about the deal in a USA Today news article.
On the day of the launch of the promotion, Tribe discovered a loophole that allows the participants to place take-out orders, so he began gifting his friends free meals from the restaurant in what he dubbed "Random Acts of Pasta." Soon, Tribe began offering free meals to strangers and homeless people around the city.
Notable Developments
On November 13th, 2014, Tribe launched a website to document his experiment at RandomActsofPasta.com.
On November 26th, Tribe uploaded a YouTube video of himself telling the story behind the project and delivering food to the homeless, which garnered more than 564,000 views within the first week. On November 28th, Redditor impressive_specimen submitted Tribe's video to /r/video, which gave a significant boost in exposure to the project.
News Media Coverage
On November 30th, Business Insider picked up on the Random Acts of Pasta project in an article titled "This Man Used His Unlimited Olive Garden Pasta Pass To Feed The Homeless." In the following days, Tribes' one-man charitable campaign was covered by several major news blogs and mainstream outlets, including Death and Taxes, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, ABC News and USA Today.
Viral Marketing Hoax Suspicion
Meanwhile on Reddit, Tribe's project immediately came under scrutiny from many commenters who raised suspicions that Tribe's goodwill campaign may have been a marketing hoax devised by the American restaurant retail chain. On November 29th, Olive Garden issued responses denying any direct involvement in Random Acts of Pasta via company's official Twitter account.
Search Interest
External References
[1] RandomActofPasta.com β Random Acts of Pasta
[2] USA Today β Olive Garden: $100 for 7 weeks of pasta
[3] USA Today β 'Random Acts of Pasta': Man brings Olive Garden to homeless
[4] Reddit β Guy uses $100 Olive Garden "Never Ending Pasta Pass" to feed over 100 homeless people. β [2:52]
[5] The Braiser β Is This βRandom Acts Of Pastaβ A Viral Marketing Ploy by Olive Garden, Or Just a Nice Thing Someone Did (And Weβre Too Cynical to Know It)?
[6] Business Insider β This Man Used His Unlimited Olive Garden Pasta Pass To Feed The Homeless
[7] Death and Taxes Magazine β Man uses unlimited Olive Garden pass to feed the homeless
[8] Daily Mail β Man uses all-you-can-eat Olive Garden pass to feed the hungry throughout Salt Lake City
[9] ABC News β Man Used Olive Garden Pasta Pass to Feed Homeless
[10] Huffington Post β Man Used His Olive Garden All-You-Can Eat Pass To Feed People In Need
[11] TIME β Did This Man Really Use an Olive Garden Pasta Pass to Feed the Homeless?
[12] Reddit β /u/AnimalCrust tears apart Olive Garden's viral marketing disguised as charity
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