How Heinz's Limited-Edition Ketchups Became A Colorful Failure
If you were a child in the early 2000s, and if you (or your parents) weren't easily grossed out, perhaps you ate hot dogs or French fries with a bizarre ketchup that was green or purple in color.
Technically, the EZ Squirt name comes from the slender nozzle on the bottle, which allowed for slightly more precise pouring when you squeezed it. What made EZ Squirt notable, however, was that it came in colors like "Blastin' Green" and "Funky Purple" and plenty more. Despite initially selling well based on its novelty — not to mention its "Shrek"-themed ad campaigns — the public's interest eventually began to fade. Heinz took a fairly long time to release some later colors, but their target audience was already moving on. By that time, the artificial coloring was turning off parents and the kids were content with regular ketchup (or catsup).
The amazing technicolor ketchup
The lifespan of EZ Squirt is perhaps unsurprising for a novelty kids' item which got much more popular than Heinz executives expected. When it first appeared in 2000 at a low price of $1.79 for a full bottle, its unusual colors and the nozzle's ability to let you draw ketchup pictures led to some hefty sales. By 2003, about 25 million bottles were sold, which translates to a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers with neon-colored ketchup. After the green ketchup's success, purple followed, and then several other colors like blue, pink, and orange (and a simple red ketchup with the EZ Squirt nozzle and brand). Eventually, they even sold "Mystery Color" bottles where the ketchup's color was kept a surprise until you opened it.