It’s still a huge celebration every year. It seems to be more controversial lately, but shows no signs of stopping. 

In one way, there’s little tradition of blackface or minstrel shows in NL. On the other hand, the tradition of blackface Santa helpers isn’t that old in Holland (maybe dating to 1850, replacing the demon(s) who used to assist him), and is clearly meant as a racial stereotype.

Possibly the most cringeworthy element is that the Dutch maintain the blackface traditon, but have attempted to sanitise it in recent years by claiming that Piet’s skin is blackened by soot, from going down chimneys.

Now if this ad was from a ’67 copy of Playboy or Hustler, I think she’d be dead on accurate.

Do ‘ER over. :)

(Though Europeans used emphasized similar physical traits associated with that ethnicity. )

Sony Portable Videorecorder
abcddeeeeilnooooprrrrstvy = sonyportablevideorecorder
So, Celebrity Porn Ad? Do Over
abcddeeeilnooooprrrstvy = socelebritypornaddoover

I can see how one might be triggered by the word “peep” today, but all I can think of is how my parents (who were in their early 30′s in 1967) would consistently use “peep peep peep” as the onomatopoeia for the cries of baby birds and chicks (whereas today, we would more commonly use “chirp” or “tweet”). Yes, the “peep show” and “peeping Tom” existed back then, but there seems to have been far more heteronymous ambiguity then, regarding the word “peep,” than there is now.

Also, we forget how relatively-formal wardrobe was forty years ago, compared to today. Plus, if you could afford a piece of $1250 technology in 1967 (which would be over $8000 today) just to keep video record of your idiosyncratic bird-watching hobby, then you could probably afford to climb a tree in your dress pants, polished shoes, and crisp button-down shirt.

The headline translates as:  
“With the Sony Video8 Pro and some shoe polish you can now compete with the most popular television series”

The caption on the screen translates as:
“Our own Cosby Show”

http://quip.deds.nl/foto/cosby-big.jpg

According to the page the image is from:
“A complaint was filed against this Sony advertisement with the Dutch Advertising Code Commission.
The Sony Corp disputed the complaint in a letter saying that the advertisement is “not in bad taste or poor manners”, and that “the Cosby Show itself discriminates, since colored people are the only ones on the show”.
The Commission decided the complaint was not grounded.”

One odd thing though: who’d climb a tree all dressed up like that? I guess they just wanted to show that only the rich can afford the camera.

It is also disquieting that, today, just by want of being a grown man up a tree with a camera the ad can come across as creepy. Well that and how much we’ve come to distrust people in dress clothes.

[sidebar: that last line is a killer corporate promise, "When you come back with everything behind you, it instantly lets you have it all in front of you." Fuck you Apple. Where's my reincarnation app?]