I love Heinz Ketchup. It brings out the flavour in almost anything I eat. Heniz in Germany though seems to want to bring out more than just flavour. It has made unfortunately made a mistake with the labeling on its iconic Tomato Sauce bottles. What was the error? Well apparently the custom printed QR code scanned users not to their website, but instead to an Adult site in Germany. Ouch!

Printed QR Code Scans

For those who do not know, QR codes have been around for a while. They are typically seen in print advertisements, bill boards and promotional products. They allow a user to use a Smartphone to scan and immediately be directed to a website, or a web page.

Heinz Germany

The error by Heinz Germany occurred when the domain name for a website dedicated to a competition elapsed. This lead to another person purchasing that website and filling it with content for Adults. Such a little oversight led to a rather embarrassing PR blunder. (FYI: domain name renewals typically cost $30 per year). I guess this serves as a reminder to myself and any other person who works within advertising to make sure all those little things such as renewing domain names are covered when creating merchandise or labeling your own product.

Article first seem on website: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/19/heinz-ketchup-qr-code-links-porn