Don Draper's Heinz Advertising

As Don Draper said in the popular AMC TV show Mad Men, “It’s Heinz. It only means one thing.” Draper was right. When you think of Heinz, do you not immediately think of ketchup? Unfortunately, Draper’s advertising pitch was turned down in this fictional TV show – but that didn’t stop the actual Heinz company from using his pitch idea 4 years later. The Heinz marketing team paired up with the TV show to use their creative, yet impactful ad as their newest way to draw in new consumers. The ad features a juicy, mouth-watering cheeseburger centered on a clean, white background. Across the top of the white background in bold, black letters are the words: “Pass the Heinz.” No product logo, plus the daring absence of their notorious ketchup bottle
The words in the ad simply state: “Pass the Heinz” in bold capital letters. The first thing you may notice about this sentence is that it is unquestionably open. It doesn’t tell you what type of Heinz product to pass, and it gives you no other implication but a tempting image of a cheeseburger. This powerful tactic that Heinz uses is similar to a popular advertising strategy called an unfinished claim (“unfinished words”). Former professor and editor, William Lutz, explains that: “Unfinished words depend on you to finish them, to provide the words the advertisers so thoughtfully left out of the ad” (132). In other words, the claim lets the consumer use their own imagination to wonder what the advertiser meant, which is usually to the advertiser’s advantage. The thing about leaving out the bottle and only using the words “Pass the Heinz” is that the ad creates a – sort of – craving for the product by just simply using the word “Heinz”. Not only that, but by asking the consumer to “pass” the product, they’re creating a relationship with them by letting the consumer visualize sitting at a table eating a meal. If there’s one thing that’s purely familial and comforting, it’s sitting around the table with the people you’re closest to and enjoying a