“Sometimes, lighter is better” the advertising slogan of a prestigious beer company, Heineken, has been criticized as racist advertising in 2018. Heineken, Dutch The brewing company which has been in the business for over 140 years, is not only famous for its alcoholic beverages, but also for the impression they leave with their attractive commercials. However, the “Sometimes, Lighter Is Better” commercial video featured a white bartender passing a bottle of Heineken Light to a black woman, a black guitarist, another black woman, and finally a white girl. At the end the wording “lighter is better” is then displayed. The meaning of "lighter" in this video is to describe a more diluted, lower calorie drink, but "lighter" is potentially a sensitive and misleading word that could be linked to one's skin complexion and the black or white issue of to the way they conveyed the message of the ad. Furthermore, this advertisement can easily be misunderstood that white is better than black. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay First, this ad does not obey accountability, one of the AMA codes of ethics, as the company did not act rationally and responsibly towards society by promoting the products. Children learn easily from television and advertising (Seiter,1999). “Lighter is better” can lead children to link “lighter” to a “lighter” complexion. Wrong moral values ​​will be instilled as kids are too young to have sufficient knowledge about alcoholic beverages. In addition to liability, Heineken also broke the principles of the AMA code by showing disrespectful actions and unfair treatment towards different races. The word “lighter” seems like the company only focuses on marketing to white people while neglecting black people. In addition to limiting their target groups, black employees will also feel offended, consequently affecting productivity. Therefore, failure to comply can represent an obstacle to the development of the company. Despite all this, Heineken still openly accepted the criticism. Snider (2018) reports that Heineken had removed the advertisement from the media, apologized for the error and explained that they should have clearly explained the word “lighter”. They accepted consumer judgment and acted accordingly. However, the fact that Heineken has a professional marketing department inevitably leads viewers to ask "How did such a famous company make such a big mistake?". It's hard not to think that they might use the topic of racism to get the attention of others. It is because controversial topics get more and more media visibility (Bearne,2015). Furthermore, using sensitive words to promote products is unethical because it could have a negative impact on global peace. Gutiérrez, Santiago, and Soska (cited in McLuhan, 1960) believe that the concept of the “global village” spread rapidly through communication (p. 1). However, if we do not respect each other's cultures and languages, the essence of globalization will be lost. While this 30-second spot appears to have minimal negative effect on the community, the power of language could cause a huge global problem. Finally, Heineken should avoid using sensitive words that refer to complexion. To promote the light alcoholic drink Heineken, sunlight could be used to represent “light”. For example, a group of people enjoy drinking Heineken light after playing a game.