Heinz Offers Up Its Ketchup As ‘Energy Gel’ To Fuel Runners
Video screenshots via Heinz
Heinz is jumping through hoops and proposing that marathoners might want to swap their energy gels for ketchup packets.
In its latest campaign, cooked up by its in-house advertising agency The Kitchen, the brand taps deep into the nutritional makeup of ketchup, which it claims includes the carbohydrates and salt runners crave during long-distance jaunts. The idea was apparently inspired by Heinz’s observation that athletes are picking up the little ketchup servings and using them as fuel on the go.
The unexpected activation includes specially-designed run routes shaped like the Heinz keystone logo in various cities, with planned expansions in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. Runners can follow these paths using popular apps Strava or MapMyRun, stopping off at designated spots for a quick ketchup pick-me-up.
In the US, this means a pit stop at Burger King, while Toronto-based athletes can sprint over to Rosie’s Burger for their sachet fix.
Ketchup sachets, Heinz argues, could rival energy gels since they pack about three grams of carbohydrates each.
All told, sprinters looking to go the distance would need to down quite a few—up to 20 packets per hour—to hit the carb count advised for endurance sports.
Dietitians are playing catch-up with this quirky suggestion, acknowledging the role of ketchup’s ingredients in sports nutrition. However, these condiment packets might not be the best options to sustain sprinters in the long run.
It’s worth considering that tomato sauce packets contain relatively high levels of sodium, with each pack carrying 90 milligrams of sodium. That’s “too much sodium,” Amy Stephens, a sports dietitian for the New York University track team, tells the New York Times.
All in all, the creative takes a non-serious jab at marketing conventions, reimagining an everyday condiment as a potential athletic supplement and placing it in the running for endurance sports dominance. As with anything with higher sodium content, take it with a pinch of salt.
[via Men’s Journal, USA Today, New York Times, Little Black Book, video and cover image via Heinz]
This article was crafted with assistance from an AI engine, and has been manually reviewed & edited.
