Heinz Ketchup Says “Sorry” About the Porn

Posted on by Patty Odell

A man in Germany, obviously a fan of Heinz Ketchup, was enjoying his lunch one day when he decided to scan the QR code on the bottle of ketchup sitting on the table. Much to his surprise, the code took him—not to the promoted contest site —but to a porn site.

Heinz made a bit of a mess when it forgot to update its registration on a QR code.
Heinz made a bit of a mess when it forgot to update its registration on a QR code.

So as most people might do, he signed onto Facebook, pulled up Heinz’s Facebook page, told the story and posted a note that read in part, “Your Ketchup is probably not for minors.” The man found the whole thing rather amusing, but many people might not have.

There are two big lessons to learn here.

  1. Don’t forget to renew registrations for QR code domains you use, as Heinz forgot to do. Heinz apologized saying, “Clearly this was never our intention and we are taking steps to avoid this reoccurring.
  1. What Heinz did do right was keep a close eye on what was being posted on its Facebook page. If too much time had gone by after the man posted this could have become a real PR disaster. But the social team got out in front of it, explained how the problem happened and said it is making sure it won’t happen again.

In another interesting twist, the original contest offered contestants a chance to design a Heinz Ketchup bottle and as a way to say, “sorry,” Heinz offered the man that chance. Let’s watch and see what he comes up with.

 

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