Heinz gets saucy as ketchup QR code links to German porn site
Techies at Heinz were left red-faced a German customer complained that a QR code printed on one of its ketchup bottles had taken him to a porn site.
"Your ketchup is not for young people," said Daniel Korell on Heinz' Facebook page, alongside a picture of a ketchup bottle next to a phone displaying a decidedly NSFW website.
"Perhaps you should give the IT department [final] decision – [this is what happens] when you scan the QR code on the Heinz bottle."
The code was supposed to link to a "Say it with Heinz" competition which ran between 2012 and 2014, but it turns out the URL had been allowed to lapse – and had been bought by an adult entertainment site.
Heinz offered Korell a "personalised" ketchup bottle to compensate, and said it will try to avoid making a similar mistake in future.
Meanwhile, the porn site also offered Korell compensation – in the form of a free subscription. No word on whether he took up its offer, though…