The inventive ketchup hit stores in the Y2K packaged in an ergonomically-shaped "EZ Squirt'' plastic bottle to contrast with Heinz's traditional glass bottles. The Pittsburgh-based food company rolled out the new line with the "Blastin' Green" flavor to coincide with the first "Shrek" movie. In the early aughts, Heinz made a gamble on selling novelty colored ketchup.
What happened to this neon-hued condiment? Heinz Discontinued: 2006 Heinz turned ketchup into art supplies in 2000. Kids could squeeze out Blastin' Green, Funky Purple, and Stellar Blue ketchup to draw on their food.
The green version launched with the Shrek movie and sold 10 million bottles in seven months. Parents loved the novelty until they started scrubbing colored stains from clothes and kitchen walls. After selling 25.
The tie-in with Shrek made sure that Heinz sold heaps of the original product, and there was a high point where Heinz captured an all-time high for their ketchup sales. For a brief moment, they captured 60% of the ketchup market. That was before the novelty wore off, of course.
Heinz released the now-famous EZ Squirt ketchup bottles filled with bright green ketchup in honor of the release of the first 'Shrek' movie. HEINZ PURPLE KETCHUP 2000-2006 Iconic ketchup maker Heinz launched crazy-colored ketchups that came in Blastin' Green, Funky Purple, Stellar Blue, Passion Pink, Awesome Orange, and Totally Teal. The outrageous colors required loads of food coloring and some fancy food engineering to make it taste like ketchup.
After conditioning consumers for 124 years to expect ketchup to be red, the H.J. Heinz company pivoted suddenly on July 10, 2000, and gave the condiment a colorful makeover. The Heinz EZ Squirt.
What is going on here? You look closer, trying to figure it out and your mind is blown because you just discovered Heinz EZ Squirt Ketchup. Launched in 2000, just in time for a tie-in with the release of Shrek (green), EZ Squirt wasn't just colorful; it also came in an interesting bottle. Besides glass bottles, Heinz ketchup comes in squeezable plastic containers and single-serving packets.[3] In 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which were targeted towards young children.[4] The product was available in a squeezable container and was eventually discontinued in 2006.
Green and purple colored ketchups were also available for a limited time. The. Heinz EZ Squirt's first color entry was 'Blastin' Green' and was created as a promotional ketchup in support of the first Shrek movie, and moms and kids came running.