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Heineken takes on politics in ad that’s been called ‘anti-Pepsi’ approach

Mary Bowerman
USA TODAY
In a four-minute ad posted on Heineken’s YouTube page, the beer-maker asks the question:  Can two strangers with opposing views prove that there’s more that unites than divides us?

Instead of shying away from hot-button political issues in the wake of Pepsi’s controversial protest ad featuring Kendall Jenner, Heineken is taking them head-on in a new ad.

In a four-minute ad posted on Heineken’s YouTube page, the beer-maker asks the question:  Can two strangers with opposing views prove that there’s more that unites than divides us?

In the clip, six people with opposing political and social views are broken into pairs and asked to work together to complete a task (building a stool). A climate-denier is paired with a climate activist, a man who says feminism is "man-hating” is coupled with a woman who is "feminist 100%,” and a transgender woman is paired with a man who said being transgender is “not right.”

The people, who are complete strangers, know nothing about each other or the experiment, but slowly get to know each other while they complete the “icebreaker” task of building stools. Once built, they sit on the stools and use five adjectives to describe themselves. They're then asked to name three things they have in common with their partner.  

“We know each other better than people who’ve known each other for 10 minutes should,” one of the women says to her partner.

The video, which has been viewed over 1.5 million times, concludes with the pairs grabbing a bottle of beer and placing it on the bar. They stand and watch clips of each other speaking about their beliefs.

“So transgender, it is very odd,” one man in a clip says. “We’re not set up to understand or see things like that.”

A few seconds later his partner’s clip plays on the screen revealing that she is transgender.

“ I am a daughter, a wife; I am transgender,” she says.  

After watching the video clips, the pairs are asked if they want to stay and discuss their views over a beer, or leave. 

They choose to stay.

“I want to discuss,” one woman says.

“I’ve been brought up in a way where everything is black and white, but life isn’t black and white,” a man says to his partner who is transgender.

Another man says to his self-described feminist partner: “Smash the patriarchy.”

On social media, the reaction to the ad has been positive, with many dubbing it the "anti-Pepsi" ad. 

 

Pepsi's ad, which was pulled days after it was unveiled in early April, showed Jenner yanking off a blonde wig to reveal her dark mane and running from a photoshoot to join protesters. In the commercial, she handed a can of Pepsi to one of the police officers standing guard, which caused the marchers to start celebrating.

More coverage:

Kendall Jenner: Is she 'complicit' or not in Pepsi ad fiasco?

 

Pepsi yanks Kendall Jenner TV ad, apologizes to her

Many slammed the ad for being insensitive to protests against police violence. 

"Heineken ad unlikes Pepsi, didn't need Kendall Jenner or any other celeb to make a social impact," @nickiknowsnada tweeted. "Just a socially aware marketing team."