Answer: Ketchup
Clues: “Condiment” and “Red”
According to an industry survey, 96 percent of U.S. households keep ketchup on hand, more than have salt and pepper. But that doesn’t necessarily mean thriving sales. By the late ’90s, in fact, with burgers and fries on the outs in a fat-phobic society, ketchup sales were flat. The only way to sell more was to get people to eat more, which was easier said than done. It entailed solving all of ketchup’s consumer problems, especially the challenge of getting more ketchup out of the bottle faster. The result was the massive and much-loved upside-down ketchup bottle.
Before they got into upside-down ketchup, marketers at Heinz turned another ketchup tradition upside down. They came out with green ketchup in 2000, then purple ketchup, both in slim, swirly, “EZ Squirt” bottles aimed at kids.
Ketchup is better with upside-down, bigger bottle | McClatchy Washington Bureau