Heinz Apologizes After Ketchup Bottle QR Code Accidentally Leads To Adult Website
Heinz is apologizing after a ketchup bottle QR code meant to take customers to the company’s online contest actually redirected them to something much, much different.
A German customer named Daniel Korrell reported that when he scanned the code, he was taken to an adult website.
The company, which is partly owned by Berkshire Hathaway, apologized for the Heinz ketchup bottle mishap and explained that the site they had been using was expired and taken over by an adult company instead.
“Heinz in Germany has apologized for the way in which an out-of-date QR code and website link to design a ketchup label in 2014 has been reassigned to an adult content web site,” said Michael Mullen, senior vice president of Corporate & Government Affairs at Heinz, in an email to CNN Money.
“Clearly this was never our intention and we are taking steps to avoid this from re-occurring,” Mullen added.
The mishap went viral this week when the customer posted photos of the accident on Facebook. The site, FunDorado, specializes in live streams of young women who put on explicit shows for viewers.
Heinz is not the first company to get in trouble with an accidental display of adult material. Last year, a math textbook had to be pulled from schools because the image on the cover was reportedly taken from an adult movie.
Other food-related companies have gotten in trouble as well. A McDonald’s in Switzerland accidentally showed a hardcore adult film on televisions placed in the restaurant. The location had flat-screen televisions that normally show news and sports, but it somehow got switched to the German channel Sport 1. The channel has a show called Sexy Sports Clips that often displays hardcore adult film clips.
One customer took notice and snapped a picture on his cell phone.
“We were only a group of men so it didn’t bother us, although what would have happened if there was a family in the restaurant at that time I don’t know,” he wrote.
A McDonald’s spokesperson apologized for the display and said it was not intentional.
“If our employees didn’t immediately realize what was going on it’s because they were concentrating on our customers and their work.”
Heinz is also continuing to apologize for its ketchup bottle mishap. The company wrote an explanation on the customer’s now-viral Facebook post, saying that it was all an accident and apologizing for any distress it caused.
[Image via Getty Images/Scott Olson]
