Chance the Rapper Heineken "Lighter Is Better" Ad Removal

Overview

Chance the Rapper Heineken "Lighter Is Better" Ad Removal refers to a critique that recording artist Chance the Rapper had of a commercial for Heineken Light beer. Chance the Rapper called a commercial for Heineken Light beer racist, due to the imagery in the advertisement and the tagline "Lighter is Better." Heineken pulled the advertisement following the controversy.

Background

On March 25th, 2018, Chance the Rapper posted a series of tweets ^[1] in which he accused a Heineken commercial of racism. In the tweets, with the followup tweet showing the video, he said:

"I think some companies are purposely putting out noticably 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 gotta just say tho. The 'sometimes lighter is better' Hienekin commercial is terribly racist omg."

"Im not saying boucott them or go off im just noticing how often it happens and I think they baiting consumers and tweeters and freelancers and shit. Like I didnt wanna tweet about it so bad 😂😂 but its like how can u not."

In the advertisement (shown below, right), a bartender slides a Heineken Light beer across the bar, passing several women of color, to a lighter-skinned woman. The tagline for the advertisement reads, "Sometimes Lighter is Better."

Development

Heineken's Response

On March 27th, Heineken announced that they would be pulling the advertisement. In a tweet,^[5] they wrote, "We have been made aware of the concern surrounding an advert for Heineken Light (available outside the SA market) that has attracted attention, and can be perceived in a different manner that may be offensive to some […] For many years, Heineken has made ambitious ads that are reflective of different ethnicities, nationalities and genders, and show that there's more that unites us than divides us. We regret that the advert has created ambiguity." The post (shown below) received more than 200 retweets and 800 likes in 24 hours.

Online Reaction

Following Chance the Rapper's post, people online began to join in criticizing the advertisement and making jokes about the situation. On March 26th, Twitter^[2] user @LeftSentThis tweeted the commercial and the caption, "Watch this Heineken commercial where a fair-skinned bartender slides a beer past 3 dark-skinned Black folks (2 women 1 man) to a racially ambiguous fair-skinned woman, and when the drink reaches its desired destination, the words 'sometimes ligher is better' pops up on the screen." The post (shown below, left) received more than 1,400 retweets and 1,600 likes in two days.

That day, Twitter^[3] user @Manda_like_wine tweeted a variation of the United Pepsi Spicer Hold My Beer. They wrote, "Pepsi: We made the worst ad of the decade. Heineken: Hold my beer. Everyone: No." Within two days, the post (shown below, center) received more than 900 retweets and 5,000 likes.

Some, however, disagreed with Chance the Rapper's assessment. After Heineken published their statement, Twitter^[4] user @MrCDHamilton disagreed and tweeted (shown below, right), "No, the Heineken advert isn’t racist – there is no racist intent – none. Only swivel-eyed racialists, who can’t even watch a movie, or a tv advert without counting how many black people appear in it, would say ‘that’s racist’ – they’re the bigoted philistines – not Heineken."

On March 28th, Twitter^[6] published a Moments page about the controversy.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the controversy, including USA Today,^[7] The Guardian,^[8] Retuers,^[9] CNN^[10] and more.

Search Interest

External References