Did Heinz Shit The Racist Ad Bed Once, Twice, Or Zero Times This Week?

I KNOW THE CORRECT ANSWER.

I’m sorry, but sometimes I have to cover “breaking” ad news, not just show great ads from 1,000 years ago. Heinz has gotten double-barrel blow-back in the last week for two attempts at showing diversity in their advertising.

NOW IN FAMILY SIZE. First: There was this poster in the London Underground where Heinz attempted to be “diverse”. “FAMILY” is the word, combined with this family wedding visual, that raised hackles. Shorthand: black bride, white groom, black mother, white parents, no father, who we can assume is black. And deadbeat, I guess. Or, dead? Bride has spilled sauce on her dress. Groom’s parents have tsk-tsk faces.

Nels Abbey from The Guardian reported:

“Where was her father, whom the average person – looking at her – would assume to be Black? Nowhere to be seen. Not at the top table. Not anywhere. Most might not have noticed. That’s probably how the image – which Heinz, post-social media storm, has apologised for – got that far”.

“Not noticing” is not a proper excuse. The overall campaign features situations that the company says are based on true stories from fans about the "unconventional" situations that have been inspired by their love of the sauces.

Below, Nels on Twitter. Sorry, Substack does not allow Tweet embeds.

This was Heinz’s response to the negative reaction as they pulled the poster:

"We understand how this ad could have unintentionally perpetuated negative stereotypes. We extend our deepest apologies and will continue to listen, learn and improve to avoid this happening again in the future”.

Then, Heinz rolled out some “spooky” (sorry, not the best word here) Halloween/unofficial Joker ads. The above execution sparked anger, reminding viewers of offensive blackface and minstrel shows.

They pulled this execution and apologised for the whole campaign.

“As a consumer-obsessed company, we are actively listening and learning, and sincerely apologize for any offense caused by our recent 'Smiles' campaign," a Heinz spokesman said. "Although it was intended to resonate with a current pop culture moment, we recognize that this does not excuse the hurt it may have caused. We will do better. We are working to remove the advertisement immediately”.

So: another attempt by Heinz to show “diversified” advertising blows back. I don’t know. I don’t see a problem with this ad: It’s Joker lips, that’s the “joke” (not a very creative or funny joke). But then, I’m not a black man.

Two other ads from the campaign which is running in several European countries, including England.

What do you think about the ads?