Green, pink and purple ketchup
Another food exhibit in the Museum of Failure is Heinz’s Ezee Squirt coloured ketchup, launched in the 2000, and followed by pink, purple, orange and blue.
They have all since been discontinued, leaving only the classic red on supermarket shelves. But according to Jago, there is some room for fun twists on classic products.
“Was it really a failure? Technically, yes, it probably was but it did generate a huge amount of publicity and a lot of people did want to buy it at least once.”
Products like these can refresh consumers’ memory of the brand, vitalise the product’s ‘personality’ and there is a genuine space for limited edition, novelty launches, says Jago.
“In some categories, like confectionery, it’s the lifeblood of the category. If you treat purple ketchup as a seasonal thing that’s designed to grab attention and get everyone buying it over a short period of time then it’s a good thing.”
© West
