They say this Heineken commercial is racist

I must have seen this commercial at least a dozen times. I never once had the thought I was looking at something racist. Take a look at it yourself and decide. It's a Heineken ad promoting their lower calorie beer with the slogan 'sometimes lighter is better.'

It didn't take long for complaints to pour in. Chance the Rapper took to Twitter calling it terribly racist.

The problem?

The bartender sees someone way down the bar who is staring at her beer with kind of a disgusted look. He pops open a Heineken Light and slides it masterfully down the length of the bar. It passes people along the way until it stops perfectly in front of her. Again, the problem? Some of the people the bottle passes are of color. A black woman, a black man playing guitar. The woman who receives the beer is white.

Racist!

Also along the beer's path there are a number of white people in the background not featured as prominently. The bartender himself appears swarthy. What did Heineken have in mind when they created this ad?

"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."

Sadly, Heineken pulled the ad.

As I said, I've seen this many times and never once felt there was any racial agenda. To me it seemed inclusive, showing a swarthy bartender taking care of both black and white customers and everyone seemed to be having a good time and getting along. Had they included no black people couldn't that have been an accusation of racism? This is what happens when a company has no racist agenda whatsoever and is advertising a light beer by pointing out sometimes lighter is better. Anyone who is seeing this and thinking the message is about skin color is on the constant prowl for racism in America. I'm sorry, I won't drink to that.

Jeff Deminski can be heard with Bill Doyle on New Jersey 101.5, every weekday, from 2 to 7 p.m. Listen live online here at NJ1015.com or on the NJ1015 app. Follow Jeff on Twitter. Email him at jeff.deminski@townsquaremedia.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of Jeff Deminski.

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