Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Chicago Dog Sauce

7/20/2017

0 Comments

 
      Everybody knows you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, spit into the wind or pull the mask on the ol’ Long Ranger, but if you’re from Chicago add to the list that you don’t mess around with a Chicago-style hot dog.
     It’s not just that a genuine bonafide Chicago Dog is the apex of hot dog deliciousness,  consumed copiously by Chicagoans, privileged and proletariat alike; it’s that this dog is revered as a symbol of its city, part of Chicago’s pride and joy.
    However, recently a national corporate condiments conglomerate attempted to mess around with the Chicago Dog, by trickery no less,  much to the wrath of Chicagoans.
     A real Chicago Dog has nine immutable components: A hot dog, of course, resting in a poppy seed bun and topped by onions, tomato wedges, small mild yellow pickled banana peppers known as “sport peppers,” a pickle spear, yellow mustard, a bright Kelly-green relish found nowhere else outside the Chicago Hot Dog kingdom, and a sprinkling of celery seed.
      Were one to go a bit rogue and a slip a smidge of chili or a few slices of sautéed zucchini or jalapeño onto one’s dog, one could probably do so with a minimum of scorn;  but there is one additive that may never ever touch the delectable casing of a Chicago Dog:  Ketchup.
    Chicagoans do not put ketchup on their hot dogs and they don’t suffer those unenlightened culinary troglodytes who do.
    Tout court, ketchup on a Chicago Dog is incontestably anathema.
   Now, this ketchup-on-hot-dog taboo, which has been in place since time immemorial and seemed destined to continue on per omnia secula seculorum, was apparently giving the Heinz Company – whose number-one stock in trade is – what else? – ketchup - a goodly case of heartburn.
       But then someone within the recesses of the Heinz body electric – likely some wisenheimer whiz-kid in Marketing – came up with what the company powers-that-be apparently thought a brilliant idea:  trick Chicagoans into eating ketchup on their dogs, get them hooked on the stuff, then corner the ketchup market in the hot dog capital of the world.
     In other words, the Heinz Company decided to try the time-tested marketing method used by successful drug-pushers the world over.
      Their scheme played out thus:
    Heinz introduced a new product they called Chicago Dog Sauce, which they claimed – truthfully – was a tasty blend of fresh tomatoes, herbs, and spices.  This new sauce, supposedly – not truthfully - developed especially for Chicago-style hot dogs, comes in a Chicago-blue-and-white bottle with a label that reads “Chicago Dog Sauce”  and sports an image of the city’s flag.

     It sells for a whopping $5.00 a bottle.
Picture
  Chicagoans were initially intrigued.
My son-in-law Miguel, who lives in Chicago with my daughter Claire,
Picture
…sent me the following video of this Heinz Dog Sauce commercial which shows Chicagoans willing to give this new addition to their beloved Dog a try,
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicag o/20170718/downtown/heinz-unve ils-new-chicago-dog-sauce-get- around-our-no-ketchup-rule
​ …their innocent palets unaware that what they were actually eating was…ketchup.
Picture
     Unused to the taste of ketchup on a hotdog and doubtless psychologically influenced by having been told that what they were eating was some new blend of tomatoes, herbs, and spices,  the pranked Chicagoans received the new Chicago Dog Sauce pretty positively.
    Until they learned that they’d been pranked and tricked into eating ketchup on their dog.
   The prankees' responses varied, one not wanting  to finish his dog, another shrugging off the prank and humbly admitting he liked the sauce, even if it was…ketchup.
   As for how Chicagoans in general are taking to the ketchup deception perpetrated upon some of their own:  Not well.
      Says Claire:

      "Actually this is made more interesting by the offended Chicagoans on social media. Some of the guys on facebook are personally offended at Heinz.To quote one, a nurse I used to work with: "This. Is. Wrong". Or another, that put up as his facebook status: "Heinz is about to piss off a HUGE market (Chicago) with a product that isn't wanted and hasn't been asked for at all". And if you want to see some really angry Chicagoans, check out the Jeppson's Malort facebook page. Malort is a Chicago brand of liquor that is notoriously bad, but its Chicago-made and some young people like to make their friends try it when they visit. Just search for "Jeppsons Malort" in the friend finding box and it'll pop up. A few posts down and you will find their take on the Heinz commercial. The comments are amazing. My favorite? "Paid actors from Skokie".
     Chicago Hot Dog Patriots: 1;  Corporate  Ketchup Dealers:  0.

References:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-heinz-ketchup-on-chicago-hot-dogs-story.html

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/heinz-s-special-hot-dog-day-sauce-annoy-chicagoans/309762/

Picture
​"Equal And Opposite Reactions"
         by Patti Liszkay
is available at

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact