Seldomly in life you should take advice from a beer company. However, Heineken’s new ad titled ‘World’s Apart’ is using a social experiment to challenge people on how they view certain issues if they’re confronted with someone who fundamentally disagrees with them. However, they have no idea going in that they disagree with each other.
The #OpenYourWorld campaign pits three pairs of people who know nothing about the other in a warehouse room together where they’re given instructions to build a bar. During the course of their interaction with each other, each side continues to have pleasant conversation filled with compliments.
At this point, the two sides in each scenario seem to like each other enough. However, here comes the kicker, both parties are shown pre-recorded videos of their new friend stating their opinion on certain issues like climate change, feminism, and transgender rights. They’re then given the option to either leave the room and never return or stay and hash out their differences over a Heineken.
One of the male participants says in a pre-recorded video that being transgender isn’t “right.”
“You’re a man, be a man; or you’re a female, be a female.”
However, the woman that the man has been interacting states in her pre-recorded video that she herself is transgender.
The ad itself is powerful and highlights that people who disagree with each other on issues can often change their mind through brief conversation. A 2014 study found that people who interacted with gay canvassers (who are gay) were more likely to change their mind on LGBT rights.
It’s the type of ad that provides a vision of how the world should be and how we tackle hard issues.
Watch the entire ad below:
