The Dutch beer giant has found itself in hot waters after it showed a TV commercial to promote a low calorie beer.
The ad shows three black men and a woman with lighter skin. The bartender in the ad slides a bottle of the promoted beer to the lady, past the black people, ending with the tagline “Sometimes lighter is better.”
This has led to major storm on Twitter, slamming the beer producer for racism.
One of the first ones to react was the hip-hopper Chance the Rapper, who criticized the company not only for racism, but also playing the “race and color” card for getting more buzz about the product.
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Over the course of the day, thousands of angry Tweets followed, calling for a boycott.
Others just trashed the trademark.
While some viewed the uproar as an overreaction and admitted that they didn’t see color issues here.
Some, however, liked the idea of the video and suggested “protest drinking.”
While Twitter users discussed if the company meant to be provocative or if it was an unfortunate coincidence and ignorance that had taken place, Heineken hurried to recall the commercial, stating that they didn’t mean any offense. It has also been deleted from the company’s YouTube account.
“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,” said a spokesman for Heineken US to the CNN.
The company also confirmed its commitment to diversity. “For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us.”
Heineken hasn’t been the first one to make a splash in the wrong direction with its marketing and creative activities.
A couple of months ago multinational clothing-retail giant H&M had to suspend its operations in South Africa after local protesters ransacked several of its stores in response to an ad considered to be racist for featuring a black boy wearing a hoodie with "coolest monkey in the jungle" written on it.
Later, Amazon UK hade to remove items from its website after pictures featuring white children posing with slant eyed gestures in Chinese national costumes stirred up indignation among consumers.