This Sony advertisement comes from 2006 ad campaign in the Netherlands. The campaign advertises Sony’s white handheld device (which previously came in black), and personifies the devices through the depiction of race. It features the slogan “White is Coming”, with a pale white woman, with white hair and white clothes physically dominating a black person dressed in black clothes. The ad was pulled due to the protests that saw the depiction as racist and insensitive.

discussion

Why do you think this ad, in particular, was protested against and eventually pulled from circulation? What, if any, role did the Netherlands’ history of colonialism play in the issue?

Why do you think the marketers who created this ad felt this would be successful? Why did they not anticipate the negative reaction?