Earlier this month, a bunch of news outlets reported that Heineken was forced to remove an advertisement that featured a cover of the Dead Kennedys' “Too Drunk To Fuck”. The ad, which was part of a series of banner advertisements running on the popular music service Spotify, attracted complaints by seeming to encourage binge drinking—although Heineken alleges that the “uncharacteristically slowed down” cover was meant to construe the idea of “relaxed consumption” via being ironically loungey. Turns out that the only thing more egregiously unwise than promoting being too drunk to fuck in a beer ad is promoting being ironically, lounge-ily too drunk to fuck.
The saga continues with Dead Kennedys themselves taking action in response to the ad campaign. They've released a statement in which they “emphatically deny that they ever gave Heineken permission to use the song” and further elaborate that “the band's attorneys have contacted Heineken to address the un-authorized use. Dead Kennedys have never authorized any company to use this song or any of the band's songs to promote a consumer product (let alone the consumption of alcohol) in this or any advertisement.”
