Heineken accused of racism in new AD

An advert that shows a bottle of Heineken sliding along a bar past black people with ‘sometimes, lighter is better’ has been criticised for being racist. 

The advert shows a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken along the bar to a woman who looks sad.

The barman then sends the beer sliding past a black woman, a black man playing a guitar, and a black woman walking past. It then ends front of the model with the caption ‘sometimes, lighter is better’.

Chance the Rapper called out the advert over the weekend saying:

I think companies are purposely putting out noticeably 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 just gotta say tho. The “sometimes lighter is better” Heineken commercial is terribly racist omg.

He added that he wasn’t telling people to boycott the brand adding;

I’m just noticing how often it happens and I think they baiting consumers and tweeters and freelancers and shit. Like I didn’t wanna tweet about it so bad but its like how can u not.

Some people pointed out that the focus was actually on the wine.

The advert has since been pulled from Heineken USA’s YouTube page.

Spokesman Bjorn Trowery said:

For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us.

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.