HEINZ tapped millennials’ angst with an animated pitch for one of its ketchups

It’s hard being a grownup, a fact central to Heinz No Sugar Added Ketchup’s animated ad that promised to make “adulting” easier—the key to which, the ad revealed, is frequent and lavish use of the tomato-based condiment. The ad strongly resembles a 1990-era Disney cartoon musical (“Beauty and the Beast” in particular). The plotline features a singing Belle-esque maiden who laments that she yearned for adulthood only to discover that it was sucky once she reached majority age; she is then rescued by Heinz. The ad began airing in mid-September. It was supported by social media activations that included interactive quizzes and cooking hacks.