Would You Bathe In Papa John's Garlic Dipping Sauce?

Businesses vying for the attention of would-be customers is a seemingly never-ending endeavor. It's also turnout out to be a pretty competitive space. From BOGO offers to limited-time releases of promotional products, companies do whatever it takes to have as many eyes on their stuff as possible. Still, with so many companies these days seeking the spotlight, some businesses like Papa John's have decided that out-of-the-box thinking is in order. Frankly, you can't get much further outside the box than a buttery garlic sauce bath bomb.

Yes, this is a real thing: Papa John's has announced the debut of a limited-edition garlic dipping sauce bath bomb. The company went all-in on the odd promotional product, even going as far as posting an ASMR-tinged video on Instagram that features a faux influencer getting a soothing bath together with a heart-shaped pizza, wine, and, of course, a garlicky bath bomb tossed into the water. 

Sourcing this will be tricky, however, as only a few passionate fans of the product will be able to get their hands on it by declaring how much they love the idea on social media. Papa John's hasn't said how many garlic bath bombs it plans on giving out, but it is safe to say that anyone interested in having one — for whatever reason — should act fast and communicate their desire for it soon.

Papa John's is far from the only company experimenting with absurd promotions as a way of getting potential customers to pay attention. Earlier this month, one of the company's main competitors, Pizza Hut, released a tomato wine made from real tomatoes and basil. Domino's has also come out with a wine in partnership with Yellowtail, and IHOP, while not a direct competitor to Papa John's, introduced the world to a pizza omelet recently.

Dunkin' got some recent attention for its full-blown movie ad during the Super Bowl, but it has been selling merchandise to super fans for over a year now, including sparkly tumblers, beanies, socks, and even iced coffee-theme phone cases. Ragu would rather have you buy its product than make a good homemade pasta sauce, so it got in on the action by teaming up with Hot Ones to introduce its new fiery pasta sauces. Wendy's combined forces with the Girl Scouts to debut a Thin Mints-inspired Frosty (although you might want to think twice about ordering the treat, depending on the condition of your local Wendy's). Marketing is only getting more competitive, it appears, so it is safe to assume that Papa John's garlic dipping sauce bath bombs probably aren't going to be the oddest promotional product people encounter this year.