Heineken has taken alcohol marketing into Brazilian living rooms with a campaign called “Hijack Socialization.” In partnership with Uber and Netflix, the company interrupts watching at the moment a show depicts people gathering with alcohol. The ad tells viewers to pause, claim a BRL 25 Uber voucher and go out to buy beer.
The format is deliberately intrusive. Instead of traditional spots before or after a program, Heineken cuts into the storyline itself. The interruption is designed to feel seamless with the content, exploiting the emotional pull of scenes that highlight friendship and celebration. By blending into entertainment, Heineken collapses the boundary between storytelling and sales.
Marketed as a push against screen addiction, the campaign intrudes on private downtime to sell beer. It hijacks emotionally charged scenes to reframe connection as something that requires alcohol. Netflix supplies the cue, Uber the ride, and Heineken collects the profit. The company positions itself as the champion of “real life” interaction, but the goal is to redirect attention and behavior toward higher consumption.
A review found that most studies identify links between alcohol marketing and increased alcohol use, including among minors. Another systematic review confirmed consistent associations between exposure to alcohol marketing and increased consumption among adolescents and young adults. One study showed that exposure to alcohol ads on social media correlates with higher rates of driving under the influence among young adults.
Alcohol harm is rising in Brazil, with especially sharp increases among women. Between 2010 and 2019, alcohol use disorder among women grew by 40%. Hospitalizations and deaths linked to alcohol also rose during that decade, highlighting the mounting health burden. This trend exposes the recklessness of campaigns that deliberately push new consumption cues into daily life.
Brazil is a critical market for Heineken. The company has invested heavily in expansion, targeting younger consumers and embedding its brands into cultural touchpoints such as music festivals, sports, and now streaming platforms. The Netflix campaign is part of that broader strategy to saturate daily routines with alcohol cues and close off spaces where people are free from marketing pressure.
Promotion, or any marketing strategies, is Big Alcohol’s activity to drive alcohol availability and acceptability, to perpetuate the alcohol norm, and to place alcohol at the center of people’s thoughts and preferences, communities’ practices, and societies’ customs. The focus of this Dubious Five strategy is the people and their beliefs about alcohol products, the public and their attitudes about and behavior around alcohol products, and the consumers and how much, how often they buy and consume alcohol brands.
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Heineken and Uber disrupt Netflix binges to push viewers from screens to social scenes