Sandra Schuurhof agrees with the massive criticism of Katja Schuurman’s dubious advertising shoot. “Why do you go all the way to Zanzibar to do a photo like that?”
Katja Schuurman is under fire for an inappropriate advertising shoot on the African island of Zanzibar. There she had herself photographed in a glamorous way, with two boys in the background who are apparently part of the poor local population. Katja advertises a shoe brand, while the boys don’t even wear shoes.
Sandra critical
In addition to the setting, there is also a lot of criticism of Katja’s hypocrisy. She flies together 15,000 kilometers to have two sandals photographed, while urging other people to watch their CO2 emissions. “Why do you go all the way to Zanzibar to take such a photo?” Sandra Schuurhof wonders in Show news†
Sandra finds it incomprehensible. “I’ve just been there and it’s just an African country, but also just very poor. The moment you step out of your beautiful resort, you just find yourself… The people have very little. Why are you shooting a photo shoot like that there? Then I think: do that in Barcelona!”
Showcase in poverty
Such a glamorous setting does not suit poor Zanzibar, says Sandra. “You want to stroll, she’s wearing a dress like that, you want to sell those shoes. There you walk in your slippers! That boy is wearing a suit! Put on a suit! It’s 35 degrees! You sweat from every nook and cranny, so you just want to put on your swimsuit and flip flops. Why are you displaying that in that poverty?”
Katja has made a mistake, Sandra thinks. “I do believe that Katja’s heart is in the right place. She also does Return to Sender and an awful lot for people in the world who are having a hard time, but this photo is really a flop.”
hypocritical
Story boss Guido den Aantrekker is especially annoyed by Katja’s hypocrisy. “The kids just seem to be the entourage and don’t know anything. Later it is said: ‘Yes, we sometimes pay those children something and their parents give permission for it’, but how kosher is all that?”
He also points to her role as a climate fighter. “Katja is always proud of the fact that CO2 emissions must be limited,” he says. And now Katja herself turns out to be a CO2 monster. “Recently we coincidentally had a report in Story about Femke Halsema who was also on holiday in Curaçao, while she also always promotes that flying is very bad.”
Not all that believable, according to Guido. “And Katja likes night flights from Africa. We all know that. I hope she’s behaved a little better now.”
Katja responds
What does Katja think? Luuk Ikink says in RTL Boulevard: “Katja herself thinks it is a shame that people immediately think that they are poor when they see black children. ‘That also says something about those who see it.’”
He thinks it’s a lame response. “Of course we don’t know the background of those children, but that photo was taken in Zanzibar. Well, there is a huge contrast between rich and poor of course. I can imagine that when people see that photo, they think: why do you have to start playing with that image right away?”
Van Bommel
The response from Van Bommel, the brand that Katja promotes, is as follows: “We understand that everyone is on tip-toe these days when it comes to all possible forms of abuse.”
“As far as we’re concerned, that’s not the case here. The children collaborated on the photo for a few minutes with the permission of the parents.”