Wow I guess we've used that new term so much that now we can consider it a holiday. Huh.
Anyway, in honor of the day on which we get an excuse to post cute baby pictures on Instagram, or post on your friend's wall reminding them of that time they did something embarrassing, I thought I would do a food-related throwback.
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| EZ Squirt ketchup |
I can just imagine the meeting they had at the Heinz company. It went probably something like, "Our sales are down, we need something new and fun! Something that the kids will love. How about throwing some dye in our ketchup? Kids love things that are colorful! Just look at Barney the purple dinosaur!" (This reminds me of an awesome Portlandia episode that you all need to watch!)
It only lasted six years, EZ Squirt ketchup just barely jumped the shark. But really, would you eat something called "Funky Purple" or "Blastin' Green?"
But wouldn't it be cool if the whole ploy was a social experiment in disguise?
What if the board meeting really went like this: "Hey guys, what if we studied how change in color effects the likability of our product, red tomato ketchup? We could compare which colors were the most popular, and how much color really matter in a food, is taste more important than color?"
Sorry if that was a little out of the blue (pun intended), but I'm becoming more and more interested in food psychology and how our behavior at home, in restaurants, and at the grocery store effects our eating habits. It's a really fascinating field of science that Brian Wansink at the Cornell Food and Bran Lab is doing a lot of work in.
So I leave you with a question, how would you react if you opened the bun of your hamburger and there was a pile of blue goop instead of red? I'd like to know! :)
More,
Gourmanda