the young people's professor

I think it is sickening that a company seeks to profit off of slavery as an institution (which this country still doesn't want to deal with)...This reminds me of the tours of plantation homes (the master's of course) you can take down in New Orleans (oddly enough you can have lunch in a renovated slave shack)...it totally de-sensitizes you to the atrocity that was slavery and seeks to make a profit off of the plight of black folks...

unacceptable PERIOD

If it were JEWS trying to steal PSP's from NAZI'S, people would be outraged...the ads wouldn't see the light of day...But since our struggle continues to be marketable to white America and *clears throat* US..it's okay *rolls eyes*...Unfortunately this is America.

I find these ads questionable and in poor taste. I can't say if they are Racist since I don't know the true motivation of the creators.
I will say I am very disappointed in Sony and if I didn't already own a PSP, I'd never buy one just from my reaction to this ad. The stupid thing is the people who would buy a white PSP have no interest, wouldn't be intrigued or care about an ad like this. They'd have been sold on just the picture of the new PSP.
Then again what do I know?. I work at a place that still refers to African Americans as "colored".

i don't know if it's outright racist. but i do think it is racially offensive and there is a difference, as slight as it may be. like bernie said, it is hard to not view this ad through the filters of racism and racial oppression that exist/existed in the U.S.

i am offended because of the negative sterotypes of black womanhood, femininity, and black sexuality that the ad conveys.

I take Bernie's point, but would add that the Netherlands on the one hand has long been one of the more liberal societies in Europe, at least since the medieval period, and yet also has a long history of colonialism and domination of other non-Dutch cultures, in Asia (cf. Sri Lanka, Indonesia, etc.) and the Americas (cf. Suriname, Netherlands Antilles), so the imagery would hardly be value-neutral there. In addition, the current tensions around immigration in the Netherlands, particularly involving Muslims from North Africa, and the Ayaan Hirsi Ali scandal, would also in the public consciousness.

Not all racism is intentional, but it can still be racism. The ads are meant to provoke a range of associations that might elude specifically rational discussion. A formal reading of the first image's composition, with the White woman being spatially higher and her front turned towards the camera (while the Black woman's face is in profile and her body only 3/4ths towards us), the White woman's mouth open and snarling while the Black woman's is closed, the White woman's fingers grasping the abjected Black woman's jaw, the Black woman's body figuratively disappearing or dissolving into the surrounding Blackness...I mean, they knew what they were doing, didn't they? In the second image, well, Frank you say it all. The innocent White victim--as her bodily position and expression make clear--is being attacked....

Guess it's time to boycott Sony!

foolishness. how could you come up with an international campaign and not think of the global markets it would affect. thats just like advertising about the good rope... place it in the hand of a white man near a tree. I mean come on people think before you act... thanks for bringing this to my attention... now i know!

Personally, I don’t think its racist, as in it means to offend or degrade African Americans. And I think its all about interpretation. If you view it as angry sista robs white woman, then that’s what you’ll see. But personally I don’t see that. I think the artistic direction is beautiful, and I think the ad is aesthetically satisfying. However, I do think the ad is in bad taste for a major, national promotion, especially of a play station. They could have though of something else to better promote their product.

It's all good homeboys.

I say freedom of speech far outways anyone's feelings getting hurt over this.

Where are you going to draw the line?

You can't stop me from saying "faggot" or "nigger" or "spic" or "towel head".

It's like I said "it's all good."

This is the damn usa who's gonna stop us from doing whatever the hell we want?

Check out my latest post at www.thisdividedstate.blogspot.com

Racism goes far beyond "African Americans" or Blacks in general. Throughout history there have been racist campaigns, ranging from polemics to outright extermination, against Jews (who are not a race), Asians, Latinos of various ethnicities and nationalities, and Arabs. To assume racism = racism against African Americans really misses the boat. Both Sony and the ad agency that devised this ad knew what they were doing, which was to be provocative at the risk of racism. Posting the ads in a European country where racial and ethnic tensions are at a boil wasn't an oversight; or maybe it was, given that Sony has been foundering in recent years, and maybe they just don't get how f*cked up this imagery really was. As yes, calling this crap out isn't being politically correct or too sensitive. It's called being honest. To the poster who wants to spew racist crap, yes, you have the right to do so. But that doesn't make it ethically or morally right, or courageous, and no, it's not "all good," since violence, intimidation and subjugation have often accompanied those words you bandy your "right" to bandy about.

yes.. enough said.. offensive to both blacks and whites...

I hardly think that Sony is rascist.....but I do think that it is in poor taste. It's so funny when people take something and turn it into something TOTALLY not what it was intended to be. Where is slavery implied in these ads? They are marketing a white produc against a black colored product...that's all it is.

It's like the ads for apple with the silhouettes...they were all black with colored backgrounds...and people still talked about it...for what?

It's not rascist...but it was poor judgement. Whoever signed off on this campaign at Sony will be dealt with.