Heineken forced to pull commercial after accusations of racism
Advertising people are supposed to know how to communicate. So how come they still appear tone-deaf to blatant forms of racism? Heineken is a case in point. Their probably melanin-free marketing department thought nothing about it when in a recent commercial they decided to visualise the difference between a full-strength and a light beer by drawing an analogy to black people’s skin colour.
Heineken quickly withdrew the ad for its calorie-light beer after the US musician Chance the Rapper called the commercial “terribly racist” on Twitter. In a widely quoted statement, Heineken said on 27 March 2018 that “we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns.”
The video commercial, with the tagline “Sometimes, Lighter is Better” shows a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken Light past a number of people of colour, before it reaches a light-skinned woman.
The decision to withdraw followed Twitter comments by the Grammy-winning singer on 26 March 2018 that gained a wide social media following.
Chance the Rapper had tweeted: “I think some companies are purposely putting out noticeably racist ads so they can get more views.” “I gotta just say tho. The ‘sometimes lighter is better’ Heineken commercial is terribly racist omg.”
He added that he was not advocating a boycott. He merely wanted to point out that he was “just noticing how often it happens.”
Heineken said in its statement that it had a long and “positive track record for creating marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us.”
Several companies have suffered accusations of racism in recent advertising. In January this year, the Swedish fast fashion company H&M apologised for a poster that showed a black child modelling a hoodie that had the words “coolest monkey in the jungle” on the front.
Last year, Pepsi pulled an ad featuring American model Kendall Jenner after complaints that it trivialised civil rights protests by Black Lives Matter, and beauty product maker Dove apologised for a video that appeared to show a black woman turning into a white woman after using its soap.
