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Heineken apologizes, pulls controversial ad after being called out by Chance the Rapper

The beer company issued a statement following online controversy.

Martha Tesema

on March 28, 2018

Heineken is the latest brand to pull a Pepsi with a tone deaf advertisement that many—including Chance the Rapper—are accusing of being racist.

The ad, which featured the tagline, "Sometimes, lighter is better," came to national attention when Chance tweeted a series of thoughts about the ad Monday. He called it "terribly racist" and raising some interesting points about whether or not its controversial nature was a marketing tool.

The South African branch of the company tweeted out a response Tuesday to the advertisement just days after the Chicago rapper's tweets.

"We have been made aware of the concern surrounding an advert," the statement said, clarifying that the "sometimes lighter is better" tagline was meant to refer to the beer's 99 calories per bottle, not the races of those featured in the video.

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"For many years, Heineken has made ambitious ads that are reflective of different ethnicities, nationalities, and genders and show that there's more than unites us than divides us," the ad continues. "We regret that the advert has created ambiguity. That was never our intention and we are taking the feedback to heart in developing future campaigns."

You can watch the ad below.