You don’t support Democrats.
Why should your ketchup?
In the lead up to the 2004 American
Presidential Election, there was much ado about the
Democratic Nominee John Kerry's wife, Theresa Heinz Kerry,
the heiress of the Heinz fortune.
Now, let's face it. Heinz has a pretty good lock on the Ketchup market.
And there are apparently some republicans who feel
uncomfortable about supporting a company so closely associated with the
Democratic party. This despite the fact that the entire Heinz family now
only owns about 4% of the Heinz company, and that of the $36,000 H.J. Heinz
Company has made in political contributions preceding this election, to
date, 88% of it was to the Republican party.
So, to do something about it, they decided to make their own ketchup.
After all, it would have been much too simple to simply switch over to
another brand of ketchup. This is not ketchup being marketed as anything
other than a "It's not Heinz" ketchup, with dashes of patriotism thrown
in. Kind of like Kerry's campaign.
Their website makes the claim that Heinz has not only 57 varieties, but
57 foreign factories as well. Personally, I doubt the veracity of this
claim, as it seems rather convenient. W Ketchup on the other hand is made
from 100% American produce, and made and packaged in the United States. Oh
yeah, and it's Kosher too.
The bottle's label features George Washington, minutemen from the
American Revolution, and of course American Flags and an Eagle quite
prominently. In addition, 5% of the profits go to the Freedom Alliance
Scholarship Fund, which gives money to support the education of children of
active duty service members who are killed in action.
No it doesn't mention anything about how many of those orphans
wouldn't be orphans if the candidate that their company is supporting hadn't
been elected in the first place.
Speaking of which, despite the fact that it seems rather obvious that W
Ketchup is named after George W. Bush, they claim that the ketchup is
named after George Washington. Yeah. Right.
If you wish to purchase some W Ketchup, it is available via the
interweb, at wketchup.com. 4 24oz bottles will set you back $12, plus
shipping and handling, which for me, up to Canada was an extra $25.
*mutter*
Anyhow, I have a feeling that this stuff isn't going to be around any
longer than the election, no matter who wins, so I suggest you grab a
collectible bottle while you still can!
Sources:
sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13522625
www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.asp?Ind=G2100
www.humorisdead.com/news/ketchup.html
www.wketchup.com