Dutch brewer Heineken acknowledged it “missed the mark” with a new commercial that Chance the Rapper criticized as “terribly racist,” and pulled the spot from TV and YouTube.
The Heineken Light ad shows a bartender sliding a bottle along a bar, past multiple black people, to a fair-skinned woman as the tagline, “Sometimes, lighter is better,” flashes onto the screen.
“While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer, we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns,” a Heineken spokesperson told Newsweek, touting the company’s history of diverse marketing. The ad has been pulled from television and YouTube, reports NBC News.
Chance the Rapper on Sunday called attention to the ad.
“I think some companies are purposely putting out noticeably racist ads so they can get more views,” Chance tweeted.
I think some companies are purposely putting out noticably racist ads so they can get more views. And that shit racist/bogus so I guess I shouldn’t help by posting about it. But ? I gotta just say tho. The “sometimes lighter is better” Hienekin commercial is terribly racist omg
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) March 26, 2018
The Chicago musician said he wasn’t calling for a boycott of the beer, but was “just noticing how often it happens.”
Im not saying boucott them or go off im just noticing how often it happens and I think they baiting consumers and tweeters and freelancers and shit. Like I didnt wanna tweet about it so bad ?? but its like how can u not
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) March 26, 2018
Chance said on Twitter Monday that he wanted to point out that many marketers “willfully” create racist advertising “so we overreact and tweet about it, and you write an article and tweet, and we all say their brand name 50 times.”
You missed the entire point, I was pointing out that alot of these marketing agencies are doing willfully so we overreact and tweet about it, and you write an article and tweet, and we all say their brand name 50 times. Thats the first sentence of my shit. And u didnt mention it https://t.co/qgrNfrfGRX
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) March 26, 2018
Actress Gabrielle Union also chimed in:
Come on man… ????? https://t.co/fQtEe1Dgjy
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) March 26, 2018
Last year, Heineken conducted a social experiment to determine whether people with opposing political views could find common ground. The resulting video, which the company said wasn’t staged, formed part of the brewer’s “Worlds Apart” advertising campaign in the United Kingdom, below:
