You know what’s the cruelest thing a person can do to hot dog lovers? Making them eat hot dog with ketchup, AKA tomato sauce. To even harbor the thought of topping hot dog with ketchup amounts to blasphemy, at least it appears to be the case of Chicago hot dog lovers. For the record, I am not too enthusiastic about having tomato-based sauce on hot dogs too. Apart from caramelized fried onions and lettuce, mustard should be the only condiment that should be on top a hot dog. Period. However, Heinz, the ketchup maker, is not quite please at Chicago hot lovers’ anti-ketchup-on-your-hot-dog sentiment and set out with a marketing campaign to win them over.
Ok, maybe it wasn’t so much of a ‘marketing’ campaign. It was more like a prank consider how cruel it is. On the National Hot Dog Day (yep, it is a thing!), Heinz unveiled a sauce it has purportedly crafted specially for hot dogs, which it calls Chicago Dog Sauce – complete with Heinz iconic branding and all on the label on a non-ketchup container (i.e. anything but red bottle, really) for completeness sake. The company then invite real Chicago hot dog lovers to have a go and the subsequent feedback of this supposed ‘Chicago Dog Sauce’ was, surprisingly, positive.
However, in what could be the cruelest move ever, Heinz then revealed that the so-called speciality sauce that they have just enjoyed is nothing more than a sauce made with delicious red ripe tomatoes and a special blend of spices and flavorings. Yes. It was ketchup, though it is not quite your run-of-the-mill Heinz’s offering. Heinz has proven that tomato sauce goes well with hot dogs. If you are interested in convincing yourself that ketchup, particularly the Chicago Dog Sauce, goes well with hot dogs, then you may want to consider procuring a bottle to try it out yourself. Heinz is offering this “special sauce” for a limited time, priced at 5 bucks, plus shipping and handling.
Images: The Kraft Heinz Company.
