Heineken's politically charged ad confronts people with opposite views

Heineken and Publicis London have released a social experiment campaign that asks a very topical question: 'Is there more that unites than divides us?' for its #OpenYourWorld campaign.The ad features two complete strangers with polar opposite worldviews, who are asked to complete collaborative objectives as an icebreaker, such as building a chair, and then share certain information about themselves and the other person, as well as what they have in common in a Q&A session. The next segment, aptly titled 'Bridge building', asks the participants to work together to build a bar.The final segment is ominously called 'The decision', and reveals that the participants actually have completely opposing perspectives on important issues, and tells the strangers to make a decision; you may go, or would you rather stay and discuss your differences over a beer?The ad ends with a simple, but powerful message, 'Open your mind.'[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wYXw4K0A3g[/embed]It took a few days to gain traction, but the video has now been watched almost 3 million times, and garnered over 29k likes on YouTube alone. A large number of commenters voiced support for the ad's message and emotional execution, with comparisons to Pepsi's political ad being almost inevitable - and generally unfavourable to Pepsi.Cindy Tervoort, head of marketing of Heineken said: “'Open your world' is the first-time Heineken has launched a campaign of this nature in the UK. Joining forces with 'the human library' is a way for us to inspire more people to focus on the things that unite us rather than divide us. We don’t all support the same football team, listen to the same music or share the same taste in clothes. We know we’re never going to agree on everything but there will also be common ground. Whether it’s 1950, 2017 or 2027, being open lets us get more out of life. It makes the world a more interesting place. And it makes every story worth listening to.”Dave Monk, executive creative director of Publicis London added: “This campaign is a fresh take on the line ‘Open Your World’. With the world becoming more polarised and with borders seemingly closing down, we felt it couldn’t be more timely, or apt, for a beer brand to play a part in bringing people together,”“It’s also a brave client that buys an unrehearsed and unscripted piece like this. You never quite know what you’re going to get. Which makes it all the more exciting to make and rewarding if you pull it off. I think we’ve created a campaign that will resonate in different ways with people from all walks of life and hopefully spark a few positive conversations of its own.”