Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Fair Shake of the...Ketchup Bottle?

Remember the uproar over the whole Vegemite/cheese spread hybrid? And it wasn't just the shit original name that pissed everyone off, but the whole concept of taking something so near and dear to us and then mutating it into something really very tasty. I mean, into something we didn't really want. Heinz are launching this ad sometime this week - and it's all about the ketchup. Yep, the word that everybody else in the English-speaking western world uses. Ketchup. No! It's sauce! Dead 'orse. Fair shake of the ketchup bottle? I don't think so, even if it may have prevented K-Rudd from mercilessly blasting our eardums with his infamous catchphrase.

Nothing wrong with the ad in theory, it's just that we have never called it ketchup, and why would we? Technically, it's a sauce. And as a side note, my mum is petrified of it. Seriously. It's pretty funny.

2 comments:

  1. Hello - Heinz Australia here.... Thanks for you comment. Actually, our ketchup is different to our sauce. While we also love our Big Red Tomato Sauce, our Ketchup contains more tomatoes per 100mL (195g) than Sauce (168g), which is why we say it is thicker and richer. Our company's founder Henry John Heinz first made Ketchup after trying Catsup during a visit to England in 1876. Catsup was a spicy fish-based product and he decided to substitute tomatoes for the fish. Since then, Ketchup has become a favourite condiment of millions and is synonymous with Heinz around the world.  In Australia, our Ketchup is made in Victoria from tomatoes that are processed within 12 hours of harvesting. So while yes, the word "ketchup" is American for "sauce", we think our Ketchup is also a bit more special than sauce.

    ReplyDelete