Lighter is sometimes not better
Heineken has put its foot in its mouth over racism in the U.S. — and now has to face the backlash.
Sometimes you wonder a little bit - how it can happen that a spot like "Sometimes lighter is better - Rooftop" can "slip through" the numerous control mechanisms of a company. And that the agency and client first have to be made aware of the mishap by an angry influencer. In this case, Chance the Rapper. A - you guessed it - rapper with over seven million Twitter followers.
The Rooftop spot is part of the "Sometimes lighter is better" campaign with which Heineken has recently been promoting Heineken Light with just 99 calories per bottle and which has been running on US television in recent days. Incidentally, the spot in question is missing from the Youtube account by Heineken USA, or was presumably removed from there.
Chance the Rapper's tweet has sparked a big discussion. Racist or not? Most users agree: highly racist. The beer that the bartender lets slide across the bar first passes several dark-skinned people before it arrives at the light-skinned woman. Combined with the claim "Sometimes lighter is better," this is a truly strange plot - regardless of whether it is unintentional, clumsy, insensitive or calculated. Because light, as we all know, means not only light, but also bright.
You might have guessed that you can only lose as a company due to such gaffes and that you are upsetting many (potential customers). This has been demonstrated in the recent past by the advertising mishaps of Dove or H&M shown. (hae)
