Heineken is under fire over a "racist" commercial with the tagline "sometimes, lighter is better."
The ad shows a bartender sliding a Heineken Light down the bar to a fair-skinned woman, passing three black people along the way. The woman who catches the low-calorie beverage then turns to speak to several white men as the "lighter is better" slogan appears on screen.
"I think some companies are purposely putting out noticably (sic) racist ads so they can get more views," Chance the Rapper complained on Twitter Sunday night. "And that s--- 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."
The hip-hop star, whose real name is Chancelor Jonathan Bennett, tweeted that he's not encouraging fans to boycott the brand but questioned how such a tone-deaf commercial could make it past a marketing agency, business executives and others before airing.
"Im just noticing how often it happens and I think they baiting consumers and tweeters and freelancers and s---," he added. "Like I didnt wanna tweet about it so bad but its like how can u not?"
Intentionally generating controversy seems unlikely, especially after the Dutch company capitalized on Pepsi's awful ad with Kendall Jenner last year by responding with a better one inviting beer drinkers to "open their world" to new ideas and different cultures. Then again, other brands have made similar missteps in recent years, including a Mountain Dew commercial that depicted a battered white woman on crutches being urged to identify a suspect out of a lineup of black men.
According to Esquire, the offensive Heineken ad is from 2017, but it's unclear what market it aired in.
Heineken admitted it "missed the mark" in a statement on Monday.
"For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there's more that unites us than divides us," the company told Newsweek. "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."