The “57” in "Heinz 57 Varieties" stand for the approximate number of products that the Heinz food company — best known for its ketchup — offered during the initial campaign using the slogan in 1896. Henry Heinz came up with the advertising slogan “57 varieties” after seeing a billboard on a train for 21 types of shoes and thinking it was a good advertising idea. Although the Heinz company offered about 60 products at the time, including horseradish sauce, steak sauce and canned baked beans, Henry Heinz settled on the number 57 for the company’s slogan because he thought it was a lucky number.
More about Heinz:
- Every year, the Heinz company sells two ketchup packets for every person on Earth.
- The common British dish beans on toast was invented by a Heinz executive in 1927 as a way to sell more of the company’s canned baked beans.
- Heinz found out that only about 11% of people know that tapping the side of a ketchup bottle — such as on the label where the Heinz logo's "57" is — releases the condiment faster.