Advertising Age reported Chance the Rapper labeled the new Heineken Light campaign as racist. Heineken responded by stating, “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.” Okay, but Heineken does have a history of questionable treatment of minorities, exclusive account reviews, patronizing pontificating and culturally clueless lust. And White advertising agencies have an even longer history of excreting biased bullshit. So it’s hard to believe the latest fuck-up happened by chance.
Chance the Rapper calls Heineken Light’s ‘sometimes lighter is better’ ads racist
By E.J. Schultz
Heineken Light is on the defensive over new ads that use the tagline “sometimes lighter is better,” after they were deemed racist by Chance the Rapper.
In a message on Twitter, where he has more than 7 million followers, the artist held up one of the ads as an example of how, in his view, marketers sometimes don’t mind getting called racist:
The provocative accusation drew a range of responses, with some people siding with him and others calling it a reach. But Heineken quickly realized that it was in some trouble, and sought to get ahead of any backlash with a statement.
“For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us,” Heineken USA stated. “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.”
Heineken USA did not immediately respond to a question asking whether the ads would be pulled.
One of the ads, which has been airing on TV for several days, shows a bartender sliding a Heineken Light down a bar to a woman who appears dissatisfied with her glass of wine. The beer passes several dark-skinned bargoers before reaching the woman, who has lighter skin than some of the other patrons. Despite Heineken’s best intentions, the juxtaposition of the tagline and casting choices are perplexing, especially in an environment in which other brands have been called out for lacking cultural sensitivity.
Chance the Rapper later clarified that he was not calling for a boycott and that he simply wanted to bring attention to the issue.
Heineken Light posted three versions of the ads to its YouTube page two days ago. All of them seek to position Heineken Light against competing cocktails and wines. The broader strategy follows other beer brands that have gotten more aggressive targeting wine and spirits, which have eaten into beer’s market share.
Heineken did this to themselves. They used to use minority vendors that could have protected them from this kind of stupidity, but then they shifted to Total Market which just means their white agencies and white vendors kept all the work for themselves.
ReplyDeleteAll those black and brown voices they could have listened to disappeared in favor of white frat bros and this is the result.
It's an echo chamber full of karma.
I've always hated that bullshit term. "Total market" was intended to be a statement of an enlightened agency model. One that transcends cultural divisions. But it's really a commitment to purposeful ignorance--and consumers aren't being fooled anymore. FINALLY!
ReplyDelete