A corporate nod to Black History Month certainly hasn’t kept Heinz free from scrutiny over the past couple of weeks (it’s been a sure lesson in the importance putting your money where your mouth is for brands).
Not only was the firm forced to release a public apology for its wedding-themed advert after being accused of perpetuating negative racist stereotypes, it has now had to pull its recent Halloween-themed advert altogether. Again accused of racist imagery.
With the tagline “it ha ha has to be Heinz” the campaign was intended to be a link with the new Joker film. Everyone included had tomato sauce strewn across their face. Instead, looking at the portrayal of the Black man included in the campaign, critics said it had blackface connotations and was reminiscent of minstrel shows.
This is obviously complete nonsense but shows how careful you need to be. Actually it’s not a great ad but taking offence? Really?
Speaking to PRWeek, Kraft Heinz said: “Although it was intended to resonate with a current pop-culture moment, we recognise that this does not the hurt it may have caused. We will do better. We are working to remove the advertisement immediately.”
