It’s the H&M monkey sweatshirt all over again.
Heineken pulled an advertisement from TV and YouTube on Monday after Chance the Rapper called it out for being “terribly racist.” Unfortunately, the ad is not ambiguous. In it, a bartender slides a Heineken Light down the bar, watches it soar past three black people, until it reaches the hands of a light-skinned woman. The tagline says: “Sometimes, lighter is better.”
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
Chance says he’s not calling for a boycott on the beer, but simply pointing out the racism that exists in big-budget ads. He believes that in some cases, such as this Heineken ad, blatant racism is an intentional move to attract more attention to the brand.
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
This is a big “yikes” for Heineken. The brewing giant has been championed in the past for its diverse ads, such as the 2017 ad placing people with differing political beliefs and backgrounds in an “experiment” to see if they could work together on a series of tasks, then decide whether they could share a beer once their backgrounds were revealed (a conservative man and a transgender woman, for example).
But this one missed the mark.
Along with pulling the ad, Heineken spokesperson Bjorn Trowery has responded with the following statement:
“While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer, and that light beer is better than other high-calorie options — we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns.”