Who Wants an Exclusive Heinz Ketchup Tattoo?

Brazilian agency SOKO has partnered with tattoo ink manufacturer Electric Ink and Heinz — of Heinz Ketchup products — to develop an exclusive red ink based on its official Pantone shade, Heinz 57 Red. According to a press release, the ink has been in development for over a year, probably due to red ink's notoriously difficult nature.

It's Nice That reports the ink will be made available in ink parlors across Brazil, where Heinz hopes fans will flock to get officially branded ketchup bottle tattoos. The trend was in part spurred by Ed Sheeran's now-infamous Heinz ketchup bottle tattoo. From that, Heinz tattooed various bottles with Sheeran's own ink, and even dropped a commercial dreamed up by Sheeran himself.

In the press release for the ink's upcoming launch, Heinz Brazil brand leader Thiago Stelle said, “A quick search of photos and hashtags on social media makes it obvious that Heinz fans love getting tattoos with our brand and products." Stelle added that “Clearly, we had to do something extraordinary for them and, as a result, bring a new alternative to address the issue of harmful pigment ingredients.”

In 2022, the ECHA — European Chemical Agency — banned "thousands of hazardous chemicals found in tattoo inks and permeant make-up," such as "chemicals that cause cancer or genetic mutations and chemicals that are toxic to reproduction as well as skin sensitisers and irritants." As the agency says on its official website, "the aim is not to ban tattooing but to make the colours used in tattoos and permanent make-up safer." Among those colors is red, which Heinz notes in its announcement.

It's Nice That also reports that various Brazilian tattoo artists have dreamed up 57 original flash tattoos based on the Heinz artwork, which includes skulls, pizzas, lighting bolts, cherries and even weiner dogs that are on fire.

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