Heineken pulls light beer commercial after racism complaints

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Heineken has removed a commercial for its light beer after some complaints that it was racist.

The ad featured a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken light. The bottle passes several black people before it arrives to a lighter-skinned woman. The tag line: Sometimes lighter is better.

Hip-hop star Chance the Rapper on Sunday tweeted the commercial was "terribly racist." He said he thought some companies were purposely "putting out noticeably racist ads so they can get more views."

In a statement, Heineken says while the ad was referencing Heineken Light, "we missed the mark."

Heineken drew praise last year for its "Open Your World" commercials, which featured people of different backgrounds discussing their viewpoints.

The “Sometimes Lighter is Better” line in our ad solely refers to the benefits of the beer itself; it contains only 99 calories. Unfortunately, the line has been misinterpreted by some people. This was of course never our intention and we're taking the feedback to heart.
— Heineken (@Heineken) March 27, 2018