Yesterday, Chance The Rapper brought public attention to a potentially problematic advertisement released by Heineken to sell their brand of light beers. The video shows a bartender infatuated with a woman and sliding a beer across the bar to her, strategically past three people of color, before a message saying "sometimes lighter is better" appears on-screen. While the commercial may be entirely innocent on the part of the beer brand as they are selling their light beverage, many critical parties claimed it was tone-deaf, comparing it to the recent H&M scandal showing a young black boy wearing a hoodie with the words, "coolest monkey in the jungle."
Chance took to his social outlets to share his frustration with advertisers using racist antics to get more views. "I guess I shouldn’t help by posting about it. But 😂 I gotta just say tho. The 'sometimes lighter is better' Hienekin [sic] commercial is terribly racist omg," tweeted the Chicago artist in response to the video. Heineken has since replied to the backlash by pulling the advertisement from media and issuing a brief statement. Heineken's American spokesperson Bjorn Trowery said, " 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."
This was not the first and will almost certainly not be the last instance of a controversial advertisement using debatable tactics to increase views. Check out the video here and read more via CNN.