Heineken’s pro-vaccination ad brews a Twitter backlash

Little would have beer major Heineken imagined that its latest ad would lead to such a backlash. All because towards the end, the minute-long spot said, “The night belongs to the vaccinated. Time to join them.”

The ad depicts older folks grooving to a cover of Sylvester’s 1970s disco anthem Mighty Real, and a few of them heading to the beach for a dip.

Many western countries have opened up now after COVID-induced lockdowns, and the ad wants everyone to go ahead, get vaccinated and enjoy the good life.

Publicis Italy and Le Pub are behind the ad. The former’s website reads, “The Night Is Young is the first campaign of the #FreshBeginnings platform focusing on bringing back and keeping socialising alive around the world.”

Production house Good People’s Ali Ali directed the ad.

But some folks, who are against taking the Coronavirus vaccine, are furious with the brewer for taking a pro-vaccine stance. They decided to vent their anger on Twitter and so, #BoycottHeineken began trending.

Here are some of the tweets:

A Heineken spokesperson told Yahoo Finance UK that the ad “celebrates a group of vaccinated seniors, who are able to safely get back out to enjoy bars and clubs and socialise again — something we’re all looking forward to. It is all about supporting the hospitality industry and getting back to the bars and restaurants safely so we can all be together again.”

Heineken is not the only beer brand to promote COVID jabs.

Budweiser, an American beer giant, ran an ad in April 2021, where it depicted the good times, before the pandemic struck, and how “Good times are coming. Now we have a shot.”

Google, in a minute-long spot, urged people to search for vaccine centres near them as the sooner they get the jab, the quicker they can return to the pre-pandemic activities they loved so much.

Back in India, all this will appear alien because a big chunk of the population is yet to get vaccinated.

So, many brands are now urging folks to shed vaccine hesitancy by incentivising COVID jabs through discounts and freebies.