By Malcolm Gladwell

Mustard now comes in dozens of varieties. Why has ketchup stayed the same?

Malcolm Gladwell, writing for the Sept 6 issue of The New Yorker, has written an article "The Ketchup Conundrum" questioning why mustard now comes in dozens of varieties and ketchup has stayed the same. In a fascinating interview with Howard Moskowitz, Gladwell recounts the history of the development of the concept of "plural perfection" that there is not just one perfect anything, but that there are different market segments, each with their particular tastes and desires. In an interesting history on the development of segmentation, he tries to answer the query as to why we have so many choices of mustard or tomato sauce but there is still just one "type" of ketchup on the market.

To read "The Ketchup Conundrum", click here

This article was originally published in The New Yorker magazine.