12 Apr 2021

What’s For Tea, Mum? Beanz Meanz The Who!

To celebrate the release of The Who Sell Out Super Deluxe Edition, out 23rd April, The Who and Heinz have reunited after more than 50 years to bring you a very special collaboration of limited edition ’Beanz Meanz The Who’ baked beans cans which are available to purchase with all net proceeds going to charity. UK fans please head to Heinz To Home and US fans head to the US D2C store. Here’s the purchase link

In the UK Heinz are selling 1,967 of these fantastic limited edition 415g cans. Pete and Roger have personally hand-signed 50 of them. All net proceeds from the cans will be donated to Magic Breakfast and Teenage Cancer Trust. Magic Breakfast provides healthy school breakfasts to children at risk of hunger in disadvantaged areas of the UK. Teenage Cancer Trust is dedicated to providing the specialised nursing care and support that teenagers with cancer so desperately need.

There are a total of 500 limited-edition cans available to buy from the Who’s US store. All net proceeds are going to Teen Cancer America. Founded by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, Teen Cancer America partners with hospitals throughout the United States to develop specialised facilities and services for teens and young adults with cancer. TCA build teen friendly environments, enhancing the hospital experience. They develop standards for age-targeted care, improve collaboration between pediatric and adult specialists and enable dedicated research to improve outcomes and survival for our young people.

A giant, hand-signed (empty) 57.5cm (H) x 42cm (D) version of the limited-edition can, similar in size to the one Roger is holding on the album cover, is also being auctioned off for the charities from 9.00am BST on Thursday 15th April  to midnight BST on Sunday 25th April. To place your bid please visit here.

The album artwork featuring Roger Daltrey holding a giant can of Heinz Baked Beanz while sitting in a bath full of the Beanz “was the best visual of the whole album cover” according to Roger, making the subsequent bout of illness that Daltrey endured to make it possible all worth it.

Reminiscing about the 1967 photoshoot, Roger said: “[afterwards] I ended up with a week in bed with either the flu or probably the worst cold that I’ve had in my lifetime and I put it down to the baked beans because they’d just come out of the fridge; they were freezing cold! I sat in them for twenty minutes until they had the great idea of putting a three-bar electric fire round the back of the bathtub I was sitting in, which worked for a while. It started to heat them up but then they started to cook. So my arse was roasting while my front was freezing and within 24 hours I was in bed with the sniffles. I don’t blame the beans, I blame the electric fire!”

Despite that experience, The Who frontman’s love for Heinz Baked Beanz has not waned. Roger said: ‘I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like Heinz Beanz, they’re great. They’re so simple; you put your eggs on, you put your toast on, you click your toaster, you time your eggs, and you put the beans in a pan, and it all comes together all in one lump. It’s great. For someone who can’t cook like me, it’s the most magical breakfast you can have: poached eggs and beans on toast.’

Lucy Cooke, Brand Manager, Heinz Baked Beanz said: “We are very excited to be working with The Who, celebrating the iconicity of both our brands, as they release the expanded edition of the 1967 album The Who Sell Out. 1967 was obviously a great time for creativity, as our famous advertising slogan ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’ launched that very same year and went on to be voted the UK’s favourite of all time.

“We’ve had lots of fun working on this collaboration, and to be able to raise funds for our brilliant charity partners with our limited-edition Beanz Meanz The Who cans is just wonderful.”

Jane Ashton, Head of Entertainment, Teenage Cancer Trust, said: “We’re thrilled that The Who and Heinz have teamed up to fundraise for teenagers and young people with cancer.

“The money raised for Teenage Cancer Trust will fund our specialist nurses and support teams who work tirelessly to get young people with cancer through the hardest times of their lives.”

Emily Wilkie, Head of Fundraising, Magic Breakfast: “We’re very excited that Heinz and The Who are using this brilliant initiative to raise vital funds for children and young people via Magic Breakfast and Teenage Cancer Trust. The funds Magic Breakfast receive will help us work towards ending child morning hunger in the UK and allow us to continue providing healthy breakfasts each school day to pupils in over 1,000 schools in disadvantaged areas each school day. A huge thank you to both Heinz and The Who!”

Bruce Resnikoff, President & CEO, UMe, said: “The Who are not only groundbreaking musicians, but they were the first to establish specialized Teen Cancer centers in the U.S. and U.K. We are proud to help them raise funds for their charities in a way, only The Who can do.”