In March 2018, Heineken was forced to withdraw one of its commercials because it was increasingly labeled as racist
The white bartender notices with his telescope (!) that a woman is grimacing at her wine-filled glass, so he quickly opens a bottle of light Heineken beer and sends it sliding towards her on the counter. The beer passes by two women of color and a musician who is also of color, then stops at the counter. The white woman smiles as she takes the bottle in her hand, and the bartender also acknowledges the gesture with satisfaction. The caption appears: Néha a könnyebb jobb, that is
„Sometimes the lighter is better.”.
The campaign had already launched in Europe the previous summer without any negative backlash, but in the United States, following its March release, a scandal erupted almost immediately. The avalanche was presumably triggered by Chance, the Grammy-winning Chicago rapper, who called the ad „horribly racist” on Twitter:
„Some companies deliberately publish noticeably racist ads to improve their viewership.”
Was the double entendre intentional on Heineken's part, or is it truly a case of a failed message?
Perhaps one commentator's opinion is closest to the truth, who stated that the ad's message is „...still light enough to be arguably deniable, yet quite striking enough to draw public attention.”.
This is likely what Heineken thought as well, because the company soon halted the ad's television and online broadcasts, acknowledging that the message „missed the mark.”.
„Heineken has been using marketing tools for decades that emphasize that more things connect people than separate them.”
- wrote the company's spokesperson in a statement sent to NBC.
„We felt that the ad was about light beer, but the message missed the mark, and we take the feedback seriously.” - stated the spokesperson.
The company, by the way, received serious acclaim for its year-ago Nyisd ki a világodat campaign, during which it created the Világok távolságra short film, in which people with completely different worldviews were „brought together” to discuss topics such as feminism or climate change over a beer.
Kitti Keresztényi talks about the advertisement that won a Bronze Lion at Cannes on the marketing secrets blog.
