{"id":2381,"date":"2024-02-21T16:23:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T16:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/?p=2381"},"modified":"2025-03-11T13:47:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T13:47:39","slug":"how-does-this-heineken-beer-ad-reduce-toxic-polarization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/02\/21\/how-does-this-heineken-beer-ad-reduce-toxic-polarization\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does This Heineken Beer Commercial Reduce Toxic Polarization?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2023\/11\/07\/why-is-polarization-a-problem-isnt-it-normal-for-us-to-strongly-disagree\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">problem of toxic polarization in America<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has led many<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> academic researchers to study how we might reduce political animosity. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surprisingly, one of the most efficient depolarization tools we know of is a 2017 Heineken beer commercial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, you read that right. We\u2019ll get into why the ad is so effective, but you should watch it first if you haven\u2019t already:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z3a8MdloAAM?si=84UVzXQY_OD6wGhl\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So how in the world did a beer ad end up being the subject of scientific research? In 2021, Stanford University held a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/impact.stanford.edu\/article\/how-might-we-bridge-americas-political-divides\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strengthening Democracy Challenge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They asked researchers and organizations to submit short-form interventions (e.g., videos and quizzes) that might reduce political animosity and strengthen people\u2019s commitment to democratic principles. They got more than 250 submissions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daniel F. Stone (author of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mitpress.mit.edu\/9780262047500\/undue-hate\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Undue Hate<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and his colleagues submitted an intervention that included having study participants watch the Heineken \u201cWorlds Apart\u201d ad. Of all the interventions they studied, Stanford found this ad was the most effective in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reducing partisan animosity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> category.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On average, people who watched the video had their partisan animosity reduced by roughly 10 points on a scale from 0 to 100. Measured on the same scale, partisan animosity in America between 1980 and 2020 increased by around 25 points. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, in a sense, this short video removed roughly 16 years worth of polarization! <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Things aren\u2019t <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">simple \u2014 for one thing, it\u2019s found these shifts usually don\u2019t last long \u2014 but it gives you a sense of the significance.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong>So why does it work?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We know that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/01\/25\/distorted-lens-how-perceptions-of-other-side-drive-toxic-polarization\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">overly pessimistic views<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> many Americans have of each other play a role in amplifying toxic polarization. So it makes sense that seeing our political opponents behave in normal and friendly ways can combat our pessimistic assumptions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daniel F. Stone had this to say about why it works:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ad was an excellent demonstration of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thecorrespondent.com\/668\/science-shows-the-remedy-for-hatred-and-prejudice-is-as-simple-as-it-is-revolutionary-contact-with-our-enemies\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact theory<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 that when people have interpersonal contact with people from other social groups, prejudice and hostility tend to dissipate, especially when there are clear common goals. The people in the video have strong and conflicting political views and end up growing to truly like each other, reminding us that we probably would like plenty of people out there who have very different political views from our own if we got to know them.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This ad is, of course, just an ad. There was presumably much planning to ensure positive interactions happened. But no matter the preparation, the ad reminds us of something that most of us know to be true: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We do have the ability to get along with each other<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">including<\/span><\/i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the ability to transcend differences and see each other\u2019s humanity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is especially true when we connect first as humans, in non-political and non-adversarial ways. And working together on a shared activity, as the people do in this ad, also helps set the stage for bringing out our more generous social instincts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our politically fractured world, so much of our exposure to our political opponents comes to us secondhand; we see them on TV, or we interact with them online (where we often behave badly towards one another). But when we meet in person, our kinder social instincts often take hold. We\u2019re more willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to people, more willing to be curious about people\u2019s beliefs, more willing to see the understandable reasons for their views.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite what we\u2019re often led to believe, we <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> see each other\u2019s humanity and remove contempt from our hearts, even when we think, \u201cThat person is very wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The reactions to this piece weren&#8217;t all positive. Some called it <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span>tone-deaf\u201d; some called it <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span>dangerous.\u201d Read <a href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/03\/06\/some-people-hated-the-depolarizing-heineken-beer-ad-why\/\">our follow-up piece about criticisms of this ad<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One easy thing we can all do to help reduce toxic polarization is to share resources like this with others. Would you be willing to share this post on your favorite social media platform?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to keep in the loop about the movement to overcome toxic divides in America? <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/join\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sign up for our newsletter.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The problem of toxic polarization in America\u00a0has led many academic researchers to study how we might reduce political animosity. Surprisingly, one of the most efficient depolarization tools we know of is a 2017 Heineken beer commercial.\u00a0 Yes, you read that right. We\u2019ll get into why the ad is so effective, but you should watch it&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"collection_feed":[],"type_feed":[77,72],"class_list":["post-2381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Does This Heineken Beer Commercial Reduce Toxic Polarization? - Builders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/02\/21\/how-does-this-heineken-beer-ad-reduce-toxic-polarization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Does This Heineken Beer Commercial Reduce Toxic Polarization? - Builders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The problem of toxic polarization in America\u00a0has led many academic researchers to study how we might reduce political animosity. 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