There is arguably nothing more quintessentially British than bombing out of major football tournaments or their famous hangover-nullifying full breakfasts (or, fry-ups as they’re more commonly known).
Your typical breakfast fry-up is a vegan’s, dieter’s and cardiothoracic surgeon’s nightmare – a plate ladened with sausages, bacon, multiple fried eggs, fried bread, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, black pudding (optional) and all washed down with a load of English tea.
The fry-up holds such a special place in the average Brit’s heart (and we mean that literally and metaphorically) that a new ad for Heinz Tomato Ketchup – featuring a very modern take on the breakfast classic – has been deemed as “cultural appropriation” and slammed as “no wonder this country’s so fucked!”
Apparently the ad went up on Heinz’s social media channels but was quickly pulled following the backlash. But not before a screenshot of the woke-looking version went viral.
Heinz’s modern interpretation came with NO sausages, avocado, ciabatta toast and the beans segregated in a cute, little side dish. Some of the ad’s many detractors wondering – in the absence of sausages – what people would even need Heinz sauce for?
The ad was first called out by comic and writer Joe Heenan who unloaded, describing it in a tweet this way: “This is the fry up Heinz have used for a TV ad. Crappy streaky bacon, beans in a wee stupid bowl, a McDonald’s looking fried egg, hard as fuck looking ciabatta toast & slices of avocado! Avofuckingcado!!! No wonder this country’s fucked.”
Fellow comic Jason Manford then chimed in, going so far as to describe Heinz’s version as “cultural appropriation”.
Soon, all of social media was in on the hate. Check out some of the best responses below:
For its part, Heinz appeared to adopt the “total silence” rule to the PR disaster. The offending ad was quickly pulled from all its channels without any explanation and replaced with the more traditional image below. Which, if anything, should appease hungy and patriotic Brits.
