Advertisement

Heinz shocks punter with porno promo code

Liv Stroud
Liv Stroud - [email protected]
Heinz shocks punter with porno promo code
Photo: DPA

Heinz ketchup suffered an embarrassing PR setback when a promotional QR code on a hot ketchup bottle led a customer to a spicier destination than he was expecting.

Advertisement

When Daniel K. scanned the QR-code on his Heinz ketchup bottle he was expecting to join in a promotion allowing him to design his own label.

But Heinz's ownership of the website for the contest, which ran between 2012 and 2014, had since expired. The bottle was a leftover which had only been filled with ketchup and sold after the contest was over.

Porn site Fundorado had jumped into the gap and registered Heinz's former address for itself, meaning that Heinz's defunct shortcut now pointed to a page full of graphic thumbnail images linking to porn videos.

A shocked Daniel promptly turned to Heinz's Facebook page to point out the mixup, writing that "Your ketchup really isn't for under-age people."

"Even if the bottle was a leftover, it's still in lots of households," he went on.

"It's incomprehensible that you didn't reserve the domain [web address] for one or two years. It really doesn't cost the Earth."

Heinz's social media team were instantly apologetic, replying that "we really regret the event very much and we're happy to take your suggestions for how we implement future campaigns on board."

To say sorry, they offered to let Daniel create his own label and send him a free bottle of ketchup printed with his design.

Fundorado chimed in to suggest that Heinz had confused their "Hot Pink" porn website with the condiment producer's "Pink EZ Squirt" ketchup.

Bild reported that the porn portal had also offered Daniel free membership to the site.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also