Critics are slamming this 'racist' Heineken beer ad that declares 'lighter is better'

Heineken

Heineken Light is under fire for an ad campaign some are calling "terribly racist."

• Heineken released an ad for its light beer with the tagline "Sometimes lighter is better."
• Chance the Rapper tweeted that the ad is "terribly racist."
• "We missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns," Heineken said in a statement. 

Chance the Rapper and others are slamming Heineken for running a light-beer commercial that some consider racist. 

"The 'sometimes lighter is better' Hienekin [sic] commercial is terribly racist," Chance the Rapper tweeted on Sunday. 

In the ad, a bartender spots a light-skinned woman about to drink a glass of wine. He speedily grabs a Heineken Light and slides it in her direction. The bottle is shown passing three people - all men and women with significantly darker skin - before coming to a halt next to the woman's glass of wine. 

The words "sometimes lighter is better" appear on the screen. 

Twitter Chance The Rapper

"I think they baiting consumers and tweeters and freelancers and s---," Chance, a celebrated independent rapper, wrote in a follow-up tweet. "Like I didnt wanna tweet about it so bad ... but its like how can u not." 

Others on social media agreed with Chance. 

"It's subtle enough to maintain deniability, but noticeable enough to gain publicity," one person tweeted. 

"It's like blatant 'subtle' subliminal racism," tweeted another. 

Heineken recently launched a series of ads in its "Sometimes Lighter Is Better" campaign. Two other ads from the campaign also feature light-skinned individuals being offered Heineken Light. However, the other ads do not show the drink sliding past darker-skinned people. 

"For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there's more that unites us than divides us," the company said in a statement to Business Insider.

The statement continued: "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."

Here's the full commercial: