Heineken pulls allegedly racist ad after backlash, "Sometimes lighter is better" - Sensationalist Headlines

Heineken is pulling an ad campaign with the tagline "Sometimes Lighter Is Better" after some critics said it was racist. The company confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday that it is not only pulling the ad that inspired social media backlash on Monday, but the entire ad campaign itself. Heineken only recently launched the "Sometimes Lighter Is Better" campaign. The campaign's two commercials that had been uploaded to the beer brand's YouTube page last week were deleted on Tuesday. Chance The Rapper kicked off the backlash on Sunday, when he tweeted that the commercial was "terribly racist." https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/978078809995046912 In the ad that Chance posted, a bartender spots a light-skinned woman about to drink a glass of wine. He speedily grabs a Heineken Light and slides it in her direction. The bottle is shown passing three people — all men and women with significantly darker skin — before coming to a halt next to the woman's glass of wine. "For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there's more that unites us than divides us," the company said in a statement to Business Insider. The statement continued: "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." Business Insider ________________________________________ The Ad: https://twitter.com/LeftSentThis/status/978309782640603136

I guess I can see it. I'm not black though so I'm probably missing the subtle context of this.

Given the history of ads getting backlash like this, I have to agree that it's bait.

It's pretty obvious they did it on purpose, and it's fucking disgusting.

The subtleties of this advert is almost subliminal propaganda lol

its a pretty gross ad. But it it's pretty silly how their plan will relatively work.

I'm normally the type of person to disagree with kneejerk racism claims, but holy shit it's so obvious here.

even America's KFC ads in the 90s had better mix of people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znpxA2Kui2c

I see the ad and the first thing that comes to my mind is weight, like lighter as in less heavy :/

Is this the start of new subtle racist marketing trend?

I'm usually first to agree about this but actually working within an ad agency has given me a better perspective. There's no way this is intentional. First of all, a 'racially ambiguous' woman? She looks asian. What probably has happened is the creative agency had the idea of using a diverse race cast, with good intentions, and the casting agency sent over a lot of black and asian actors and extras. The white bartender was already hired for his expressiveness for the role, not his skin colour. In their attempt to promote inclusiveness with a mixed race casting, something innocuous accidentally became very unfortunate with the tagline, which is simply promoting lite beer over wine. That's all it's doing. Ads like this are a massive collaborative effort, not a single person during concepting said 'hey, let's make this subtlely racist'. The decision to hire black and asian actors likely happened close to the end or somewhere in the middle of production. There's no chance there's an early storyboard of this where it specifically outlines anything to do with anyone's racist. It's an unfortunate accident, and everyone who was overlooking the production and final result had about 100 other things to worry about within the ad that nobody would even have clued into the unfortunate coincidence of campaign message and specific actors chosen for this commercial.

I would argue that it's been a thing for a while now

It's the continuation of making commercials that are purposely racist but only so far as the creators know it will be received as racist, and thus will be covered on the news constantly and save them a ton on advertising.

This doesn't happen. It's bad business. In what world would a brand put ad views above being seen as racist which would hurt sales and brand image.

personally, i do find lighter is better

I don't buy that it is intentional, but something like this probably should have been caught during production or editing.

If it's not intentional, how does it get by so many different hands and eyes? I used to work in the world of film and the like, everything was run by somebody. Somebody always had the final say. how does something like this get made without those checks and balances

Because some people innocently don't really worry about non-issues or don't create problems where there isn't one? I'm sick of people crying wolf about racism or offensive things that could only be perceived that way if you warp them to fit your own chip on your shoulder. The advert is clearly talking about lighter beer in oppose to heavier drinks. It has FUCK ALL to do with race.

Before you go flipping your lid I didn't say anything one way or the other. I didn't rage, or display the rage you're clearly mad at. I asked a question, mostly in response to Rusty's post. My question is how did this get past the censors if the racism is so obvious, because yes, I understand it's about light beer, and I understand both the backlash, and the people backlashing at the backlash(like you) But you do you man.

At least the second tweet in the OP looks written by someone who professionally looks to be offended. Matching exactly the type of person he said.

So are we replying to random twitter users here? Or are we replying to each other? Can I just grab a twitter user, replace your post with that, and reply to you based on that? Is that a good discussion?

But it is a reply to your question. I assume it would get past censors because they don't have professional victims working at Heineken.

I probably wouldn't think anything of it if I saw this ad on TV myself without someone having to point it out.

It doesn't take being a professional victim to recognize that this is a poorly made ad? Is that what you're saying? If a black person was offended by this, are they a professional victim? Seriously, are they?

Seems to me that professional victims kicked the story off. Chance the rapper has retweets of that LEFT guy and other similar victim content. Anyone could be offended by anyone. Imo if this evokes a strong reaction from a black person then I can only pity their pathetic mental fortitude.

So if a black person considers something like this racist, they're either a "Professional victim" or in possession of "Pathetic mental fortitude". Sorry, but any points you might have had are quickly vanishing into the bullshit of what you're saying.

Seems to me that you're yourself constructing half of what you are replying to.

Nah, seems to me you're not aware of the words you speak I never personally said this was a racist ad. Personally, I don't care. But I'm not going to be "that guy" who calls anyone who does see racism, including black people, who call out racism that they see as either of the things you labeled them as being.

But I never said that a black person who finds this racist must be either a professional victim or of pathetic mental fortitude. I said anyone can find anything offensive. If anyone would be seriously offended about this, rather than shrug and move on, then yes I would find that to be quite pathetic. On professional victims, one of the top breakers of this story has a black nationalist banner on twitter and among other things is studying black representation in media PhD. He is undoubtedly going to be hyper sensitive. It's what his whole career is based on. Unlike you I don't care about moral outrage and will say it like it seems to be to me. Personally I find the visuals in this ad to be obviously based on race, but inconsequential.

Intent matters, and I doubt a major company would intentionally produce something like this if they wanted it to appear as prejudice.