Comments for Kids Design Cute Heinz Ketchup Packets, Learning Important Early Lessons In Mass-Market Commodification

Kids Design Cute Heinz Ketchup Packets, Learning Important Early Lessons In Mass-Market Commodification

2009-10-21T01:24:06Z

Today my sandwich came with these Heinz ketchup packets with cute little designs on them, part of an insidious plot to sell more ketchup.

I especially like the one where the bowl of fries is grabbing the bottle and shaking it onto themselves. Underneath each design is a student's name and school. Turns out it's part of a Heinz packet design contest for schoolchildren. Kids get some name recognition (and $1,000), teachers get a free lesson plan (and $1,000 in art supplies), and Heinz gets to infiltrate the minds of K-12 students (and give schools $1,000 of their ketchup). Wins all around. [KetchupCreativity]

Comment from DirectMailFan on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T20:04:11Z

Looks like the Ketchup-Industrial Complex, 25 years after the Reaganites declared it a "vegetable", is going directly after kids.

'bout time!

Comment from hankrearden on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T19:56:34Z

Big deal. It's called "marketing". Doesn't General Mills do this with the Box Tops thing for education? You could say that they are "insidiously" seeding the minds of the kids to buy GM cereal too.

Good grief.

Comment from MacGyver on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T17:59:11Z

What's silly is that blind taste tests have consistently shown that Heinz is not the best tasting ketchup out there.
[www.post-gazette.com]

Taking a mediocre product and repackaging it to make it more attractive. In a situation where the consumer has only the choice of using the ketchup provided by the restaurant or not using any ketchup at all. Marketing at its finest.

Comment from antisan on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T17:56:10Z

Looks like they're teaching them some gender lessons at the same time. Though with all the eyelashes I'm kind of interested in the one with the pom-poms without eyelashes.

Comment from Charlotte Rae's Web on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T17:34:27Z

@GitEmSteveDave_MovesHisHipsLikeYeah:The Fox Force Five joke!

Comment from Foneguy on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T16:25:02Z

I am OK with this, every kid loves ketchup on fries. At least it was not Mountain Dew. Nothing to see here, please move along.

Comment from mythago on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T10:37:11Z

Furikake packages have had cute pictures for years.

Comment from Darkneuro on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T07:35:23Z

Those *are* cute. My personal fave is the crowd surfer.
However... I'd think it were better if they just went with the kids' idea of what the ketchup bottle looks like rather than using a standardized template for the bottle. Possibly used for the fries as well... hm.
Still. Great job to the kids and YAY! to Heinz for showing a little love to the teachers as well. They all deserve it.

Comment from Moosehawk on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T07:32:22Z

@Michael Belisle: Puns are all the rage today. You need to catch up with the times.

Comment from redkamel on 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T07:07:22Z

the funny part is that these packet designs are way, way more awesome than the regular design. I actually want to use the packets.

Comment from bhaughey on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T04:25:11Z

I think I spotted one of these ketchup packets in that dead bird's stomach.

Comment from dorianh49 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T03:55:41Z

@Michael Belisle: I can't believe they're giving condom mints to schools!

Comment from JamieSueAustin on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T03:53:22Z

@Michael Belisle: No need to get saucy about it.

Comment from Anathema777 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T03:28:14Z

@catastrophegirl: The problem is that costs go up faster than the tuition because if the tuition goes up too much, you can lose students -- and their tuition payments too. And when the economy tanks, you might end up losing those kids anyway when parents can no longer afford the school.

It's definitely a balancing act.

Comment from Coles_Law on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T03:20:52Z

@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: It's also possible they were given Heinz stickers to use.

Comment from RecordStoreToughGuy_KnowsThreeChords on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T03:16:53Z

@Michael Belisle: Yes, lettuce do so.

Comment from Eels on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T03:04:55Z

@ElizabethD: Aaaaaah. That was refreshing.

Comment from catastrophegirl on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:59:29Z

@Anathema777: well i was thinking that tuition would be planned out to be sufficient to cover these costs, as opposed to public schools who face budget cuts end reduced funding with no control over the state legislature.
but i didn't think about the church aspect of it. thanks for the info

Comment from Michael Belisle on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:56:09Z

@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: The contest kit includes ketchup bottles. You can see the original artwork at the Ketchup Creativity Voting page and compare to the mainstreamified versions on the Winners page. They're pretty faithful, but of course it'd be nice if they had used modern technology to print the unadulterated originals.

Comment from bohemian on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:50:59Z

@Michael Belisle: They probably are a bit disgruntled about being replaced by a pack of elementary school kids.

Comment from Anathema777 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:45:34Z

@catastrophegirl: Catholic schools depend on tuition for funding and they have to make and stick to budgets like anyone else. Often, they're also connected to a church and the budgets might be spread between the two.

Comment from incomingpilot on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:36:46Z

@MostlyHarmless: I read the C&H as Cyanide and Happiness, not Calvin and Hobbs at first. Darn internet :(

Comment from tisk01 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:32:15Z

Is there a particular reason they all look like they have been drawn by the same person?

Comment from MostlyHarmless on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:25:25Z

@GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah: Avery Wong knows there is nothing more fun than a pun in the bun.

Comment from MostlyHarmless on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:21:32Z

@Ratty: Seconded. Reminds me of the C&H strip where the family is at a restaurant, and they are out of some drink... and Calvin goes "no problem. I'll have a glass of ketchup."

Comment from GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:11:53Z

@Michael Belisle: That's a punderful idea.

Comment from catastrophegirl on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:07:12Z

@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: the backgrounds all look like different styles but the ketchup bottles all look identical to each other. so i bet you are right - they took the kids' illustrations and posted a clean, recognizable heinz bottle with label over the original ketchup bottles drawn by the kids..

now if i can just get my mind past the fact that St Mary's Catholic School in TX was in on this [aren't catholic schools all private schools who ought to have decent funding? i never went to one so i don't know for certain how that works]

Comment from nstonep on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:06:45Z

I think everyone wins in this situation. Maybe they could give more sweet sweet moolata to the schools, though. The designs look nice. At least it's not that colored ketchup which I guess they tomaterminated.

I come from pittsburgh so there's always going to be some bias towards heinz. Don't tell them I actually use hunt's now...I might be tomatossinated.

Comment from pecan 3.14159265 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:05:55Z

@GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah: No need to get all red about it.

Comment from Oranges w/ Cheese on the move on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T02:00:18Z

I have a hard time believing that the kids were skilled enough to not only replicate the Heinz label to a tee but spell Heinz and KETCHUP correctly on each illustration.

I think these were inspired by kids, but eventually created by a marketing department before final packaging.

Comment from foofish on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:57:57Z

@jokono: WIN!

Comment from Ratty on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:57:41Z

I think it's cute, and when i was in grade school I would have happily done it. Who loves ketchup more than kids do anyway?

Comment from ElizabethD on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:56:40Z

We can be cynical about this, or we can simply enjoy those refreshing designs on the packets. I'm choosing "B".

Comment from dohtem on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:52:44Z

@sir_pantsalot: Or they are on LSD. Those creepy fries remind me of lemmings.

Comment from dohtem on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:50:55Z

@Michael Belisle: I would relish that.

Comment from jokono on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:47:46Z

Comment from rpm773 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:47:28Z

Kids do the darnedest shit.

Comment from Michael Belisle on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:46:26Z

@sir_pantsalot: Mayo we can lay off the puns for one thread?

Comment from Radi0logy on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:46:23Z

Well, it must work. To this day I can't eat Hunt's without grimacing.

Comment from Michael Belisle on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:43:46Z

I hope the kids are also involved in another part of the marketing process: criticizing the graphic artist's mass-market sanitization of their artwork.

Comment from sir_pantsalot on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:34:53Z

@GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah:There mustard been rules against showing the death of tomatoes.

Comment from dfens42 on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:34:09Z

@GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah:

I promise not to laugh.

Comment from The Porkchop Express on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:32:42Z

@GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah: I told you it wasn't funny.

Comment from sir_pantsalot on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:32:09Z

Those kids have seen a few too many Corona commercials.

Comment from GitEmSteveDave_NodsHisHeadLikeYeah on 2009-10-20

2009-10-21T01:31:15Z

No one where a mommy and daddy tomato are walking with a baby tomato, and he's lagging behind, so the daddy tomato goes and smashes him and says, "catch up!"?