Black burgers the newest offering in crazy-coloured food
Burger King Japan’s black specialty burger is the latest crazy-coloured food to hit the market, but it’s certainly not the first.
People have certain expectations when it comes to food and drink. Corn is yellow, coffee is black and chicken is white.
But would you try teal corn, red chicken or blue coffee?
Burger King Japan's black specialty burger is the latest crazy-coloured food to hit the market, but it's certainly not the first.
Marketers have used strangely-coloured foods to sell a wide range of products over the years, often with mixed results.
Sometimes the colouring makes sense, like when bars dye their beer green on St. Patrick's Day. Other times it makes no sense, like some of the products listed below.
Burger King Japan's black burger
You won't find it in Canada, but in Japan, Burger King's all-black Premium Kuro Burger is a big hit. The buns and cheese slices are dyed black with bamboo charcoal, and squid ink is used to turn the ketchup black.
Burger King Japan released its first all-black burger in 2012, and the sales were so good they came out with a second variant in 2013.
On Wednesday, Burger King announced its third variation of the bizarre fast food phenomenon. It's called the Ninja Burger, and the promo commercial is everything you'd expect it to be.
Purple, blue and green ketchup
Heinz tried to get customers to taste the rainbow back in 2000, when they introduced a line of kid-friendly ketchups in a wide range of unfamiliar colours. The ketchups came in "EZ-Squirt" bottles and had names like Funky Purple, Blastin' Green and Stellar Blue.
Blastin' Green debuted first and actually resulted in a big sales boost for Heinz. Kids loved the weird colour, and parents didn't mind green ketchup. After all, some tomatoes are green.
Heinz commercials played up the bottle's easy-to-use nozzle, while touting the product as "fun for your food."
But Heinz became more aggressive with its EZ-Squirt line over the years, rolling out colours like purple, pink and teal. Consumers eventually tired of the colour novelty and went back to the familiar red, and Heinz pulled its EZ-Squirt line from the shelves in 2006.
Nowadays, Heinz ketchup only comes in red.
Pink and blue margarine
Ketchup wasn't the only product to introduce easy-to-squeeze, oddly-coloured versions of its product. Shortly after Heinz came out with its colourful ketchup, Parkay released a line of "Fun Squeeze" pink and blue margarines in 2001. Like Heinz, Parkay marketed its funky-coloured product as a fun way for kids to liven up their food.
Parkay's Fun Squeeze margarine came in Electric Blue and Shocking Pink colours, but it didn't sell well and was off the shelves by 2003.
Parkay still has squeezable margarine bottles, but the odd colours are a thing of the past.
Clear Pepsi
When consumers buy a cola drink, they expect a dark, bubbly, caramel-coloured soft drink with more bite than a 7-Up or Sprite.
But Pepsi turned that expectation on its head in 1992 with Crystal Pepsi, a caffeine-free, clear cola drink.
Clear beverages enjoyed a brief fad of popularity in the 1990s, with many other companies releasing clear versions of their soft drinks and beers. Marketers were selling their products based on the idea that "clear" meant "pure," and that's exactly how Pepsi sold its Crystal Pepsi product.
The all-natural angle is obvious in this 1993 Super Bowl ad for Crystal Pepsi.
The clear fad was short-lived, however, and Pepsi discontinued its Crystal line before the end of 1993.
Black Water
On the other end of the beverage spectrum is Blk water, a posh brand of mineral water dyed black by the fulvic acid in its mineral solution. The drink has been out for a few years and is sold primarily in the United States, though it has appeared in Canada, too.
Kaleidoscope of Kit Kat colours
Oddly-coloured foods must be big in Japan, because that's where Kit Kat chocolate bars are available in more than a dozen different flavours and colours.
Some flavours such as strawberry and cheesecake are relatively tame, while other flavours such as Purple Sweet Potato, Wasabi and Red Bean Sandwich look as strange as they probably taste.
In fact, a quick "Kit Kat Japan" search on YouTube produces a long list of videos showing people taste-testing the many peculiar Japanese flavours.
Black burgers the newest offering in crazy-coloured food : The Loop
Burger King Japan’s black specialty burger is the latest crazy-coloured food to hit the market, but it’s certainly not the first.
People have certain expectations when it comes to food and drink. Corn is yellow, coffee is black and chicken is white.
But would you try teal corn, red chicken or blue coffee?
Burger King Japan's black specialty burger is the latest crazy-coloured food to hit the market, but it's certainly not the first.
Marketers have used strangely-coloured foods to sell a wide range of products over the years, often with mixed results.
Sometimes the colouring makes sense, like when bars dye their beer green on St. Patrick's Day. Other times it makes no sense, like some of the products listed below.
Burger King Japan's black burger
You won't find it in Canada, but in Japan, Burger King's all-black Premium Kuro Burger is a big hit. The buns and cheese slices are dyed black with bamboo charcoal, and squid ink is used to turn the ketchup black.
Burger King Japan released its first all-black burger in 2012, and the sales were so good they came out with a second variant in 2013.
On Wednesday, Burger King announced its third variation of the bizarre fast food phenomenon. It's called the Ninja Burger, and the promo commercial is everything you'd expect it to be.
Purple, blue and green ketchup
Heinz tried to get customers to taste the rainbow back in 2000, when they introduced a line of kid-friendly ketchups in a wide range of unfamiliar colours. The ketchups came in "EZ-Squirt" bottles and had names like Funky Purple, Blastin' Green and Stellar Blue.
Blastin' Green debuted first and actually resulted in a big sales boost for Heinz. Kids loved the weird colour, and parents didn't mind green ketchup. After all, some tomatoes are green.
Heinz commercials played up the bottle's easy-to-use nozzle, while touting the product as "fun for your food."
But Heinz became more aggressive with its EZ-Squirt line over the years, rolling out colours like purple, pink and teal. Consumers eventually tired of the colour novelty and went back to the familiar red, and Heinz pulled its EZ-Squirt line from the shelves in 2006.
Nowadays, Heinz ketchup only comes in red.
Pink and blue margarine
Ketchup wasn't the only product to introduce easy-to-squeeze, oddly-coloured versions of its product. Shortly after Heinz came out with its colourful ketchup, Parkay released a line of "Fun Squeeze" pink and blue margarines in 2001. Like Heinz, Parkay marketed its funky-coloured product as a fun way for kids to liven up their food.
Parkay's Fun Squeeze margarine came in Electric Blue and Shocking Pink colours, but it didn't sell well and was off the shelves by 2003.
Parkay still has squeezable margarine bottles, but the odd colours are a thing of the past.
Clear Pepsi
When consumers buy a cola drink, they expect a dark, bubbly, caramel-coloured soft drink with more bite than a 7-Up or Sprite.
But Pepsi turned that expectation on its head in 1992 with Crystal Pepsi, a caffeine-free, clear cola drink.
Clear beverages enjoyed a brief fad of popularity in the 1990s, with many other companies releasing clear versions of their soft drinks and beers. Marketers were selling their products based on the idea that "clear" meant "pure," and that's exactly how Pepsi sold its Crystal Pepsi product.
The all-natural angle is obvious in this 1993 Super Bowl ad for Crystal Pepsi.
The clear fad was short-lived, however, and Pepsi discontinued its Crystal line before the end of 1993.
Black Water
On the other end of the beverage spectrum is Blk water, a posh brand of mineral water dyed black by the fulvic acid in its mineral solution. The drink has been out for a few years and is sold primarily in the United States, though it has appeared in Canada, too.
Kaleidoscope of Kit Kat colours
Oddly-coloured foods must be big in Japan, because that's where Kit Kat chocolate bars are available in more than a dozen different flavours and colours.
Some flavours such as strawberry and cheesecake are relatively tame, while other flavours such as Purple Sweet Potato, Wasabi and Red Bean Sandwich look as strange as they probably taste.
In fact, a quick "Kit Kat Japan" search on YouTube produces a long list of videos showing people taste-testing the many peculiar Japanese flavours.
Black burgers the newest offering in crazy-coloured food : The Loop
