The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024
Heinz's 'Smiles' campaign painted mouths in ketchup — critics saw minstrelsy
Gut smeared models' lips with Heinz ketchup for a Joker-tied campaign. Critics said the red mouths, on a Black model, echoed minstrel makeup.
Heinz · Gut · 2024-10
What happened
In October 2024, Heinz and agency Gut New York released 'Smiles,' a campaign timed to Joker: Folie à Deux, showing models smiling with Heinz ketchup smeared on and around their lips in a style resembling the film's exaggerated clown makeup, under the tagline 'It ha ha has to be Heinz.'
Critics said the imagery, especially the large painted-red mouth on a Black model included in the campaign, echoed minstrelsy — the historical practice of exaggerated red-lip makeup used to mock Black people on stage. The criticism landed within days of a separate Heinz ad also drawing accusations of racial insensitivity, compounding the backlash into one bad week for the brand.
Heinz apologized and pulled the campaign. A spokesperson told press: 'we recognise that this does not justify the hurt it may have caused... We are working to remove the advertisement immediately.'
Why it happened
- A visual built around exaggerated red mouths carries a specific, loaded history that a creative brief tied to a movie's clown makeup did not account for.
- Including a Black model in imagery with that specific visual signature made the resemblance to minstrel makeup unavoidable rather than a stretch.
- The campaign launched days after a separate Heinz ad had already drawn racial-insensitivity criticism, so there was no slack left for a second miss to be read as isolated.
The lesson
A visual has its own history independent of the concept it's borrowed for — 'clown makeup' and 'minstrel makeup' can look identical even when the brief meant only one.
Aftermath
The campaign added to a run of high-profile 2024 ad controversies over imagery evoking blackface or minstrelsy across multiple brands, intensifying scrutiny of how casting and makeup choices in food and fashion advertising get reviewed before launch.
Sources
- Grocery Gazette — Heinz to axe second ad as it apologises over new racism accusations
- DesignRush — Heinz Pulls New 'Smiles' Campaign Following Racist Claims
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