Just three weeks after Pepsi released an ad starring Kendall Jenner as the sole solution to social issues that divide our country, Heineken has come out with its own politically-charged commercial.
But this one is very different than the video that earned Pepsi such stunned backlash.
The beer company has released a four-minute YouTube spot titled “Worlds Apart: An Experiment” in which six strangers with different political and social beliefs are divided into three partnerships.
They are then tasked with working together to build stools, and, eventually, a bar.
If this all sounds very complicated and drawn out for a beer commercial… it is.
But the message does resonate in the end.
After teaming up with one another, the participants were then informed about their partner"s viewpoints on various topics; for example, one transgender woman discovered that her her assigned other half believed that being transgender was “not right."
Another duo realized they disagreed vehemently on climate change.
Despite their significant differences, each tandem stuck around to talk and work through their opinions – over beer, of course, hence the tie-in to Heineken.
The commercial has been praised by such stars as Sarah Silverman.
It stands in stark contrast to the notorious Pepsi ad because it"s not exploiting a movement such as Black Lives Matter.
Nor is it using real-life conflict between police and citizens as fodder for how Pepsi tastes so great that it can put an end to any kind of tension.
Instead, it"s simply emphasizing the importance of having an open dialogue – and, hey, what better way to have said dialogue than over a bottle of beer?
Watch the ad for yourself and then react. Does this commercial also cross a line? Should companies avoid politics at all costs?
Or does this video manage to walk that fine line in suitable, even admirable, fashion?
