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.’