Heineken's 'racist' commercial has been pulled

29-Mar-2018 - Netherlands

Dutch brewer Heineken N.V. (HKHHF.PK) has pulled an advertisement that used the tagline "Sometimes lighter is better" to advertise Heineken Light beer, after the ad came under fire on social media and was slammed as racist.

The ad shows a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken Light past several black people to a lighter-skinned woman.

The ad was slammed by Hip-hop star Chance the Rapper, who termed it as "terribly racist" and felt that companies are purposely putting out noticeably racist ads to get more publicity. Several people agreed with him.

Following a backlash on social media, Heineken pulled the ad from television and the Internet by late Monday.

"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," said Heineken USA spokesman Bjorn Trowery.

Heineken joins a growing list of companies that have been criticized for their insensitive portrayal of minorities in advertisements that have been criticized as racist.

In October, personal care products maker Dove, owned by Dutch-British consumer goods company Unilever, issued an apology for a Facebook advertisement that created an uproar on social media for being racist. The ad showed a series of images that appeared to show a black woman turning white after using their soap.

Nivea, in April, pulled an ad of a deodorant that featured the phrase "white is purity" across an image of a woman wearing a white robe.
Nivea decided to remove the ad, created to promote its Invisible for Black & White deodorant, after widespread backlash on social media.

Last year, Pepsi too was forced to pull a controversial and infamous ad featuring model Kendall Jenner that was accused of appropriating the Black Lives Matter movement to sell sodas. (dpa)

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1154246/heineken-s-racist-commercial-has-been-pulled.html