Saucy Heinz Ketchup QR Code Sends Man To German Porn Site
Usually people who enjoy such things put ketchup on eggs, but it was Heinz that had egg on its face after a QR code on one of its bottles directed a German man to a hardcore pornography website. That wasn't the company's intention, of course -- the QR code was supposed to direct visitors to a promotional website where they could design their own label.
The promotional page was part of a contest that ran from 2012 to 2014. Now expired, Heinz made the embarrassing mistake of not registering the URL for a couple of extra years, leaving it up for grabs instead. A German porn site picked it up, likely anticipating that anyone scanning the QR code on old bottles still in circulation and in homes would result in page hits, and maybe even new subscribers. It was an unscrupulous move, but ultimately the fault lies with Heinz on this one.
"Your ketchup really isn't for under-age people," Daniel Korell, the person who discovered the naughty destination, wrote on his Facebook page. "Even if the bottle was a leftover, it's still in lots of households. It's incomprehensible that you didn't reserve the domain for one or two years. It really doesn't cost the Earth."
Heinz was quick to apologize for the situation, though the statement it gave reads like a canned response. "We really regret the event very much and we're happy to take your suggestions for how we implement future campaigns on board," Heinz said.
The better response came from the pornography website, which offered Krell a yearlong subscription for the media exposure this incident has generated.
The promotional page was part of a contest that ran from 2012 to 2014. Now expired, Heinz made the embarrassing mistake of not registering the URL for a couple of extra years, leaving it up for grabs instead. A German porn site picked it up, likely anticipating that anyone scanning the QR code on old bottles still in circulation and in homes would result in page hits, and maybe even new subscribers. It was an unscrupulous move, but ultimately the fault lies with Heinz on this one.
"Your ketchup really isn't for under-age people," Daniel Korell, the person who discovered the naughty destination, wrote on his Facebook page. "Even if the bottle was a leftover, it's still in lots of households. It's incomprehensible that you didn't reserve the domain for one or two years. It really doesn't cost the Earth."
Heinz was quick to apologize for the situation, though the statement it gave reads like a canned response. "We really regret the event very much and we're happy to take your suggestions for how we implement future campaigns on board," Heinz said.
The better response came from the pornography website, which offered Krell a yearlong subscription for the media exposure this incident has generated.
