TOKYO (AP) - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has removed billboards for the new white version of its PlayStation Portable video game player following complaints of racism, the company said. Sony also apologized.


The billboards, which went up in the first week of June only in the Netherlands, showed a white woman dressed in white threateningly grabbing the face of a frightened-looking black girl, with a message saying "PlayStation Portable White is coming."
The provocative image was one of several versions showing the two women in different poses, company spokesman Nanako Kato said Wednesday. They appeared exclusively in Amsterdam and several other major cities in that country.

Sony said the ads were intended only to emphasize the colour contrast between the existing black PSP and the new ceramic white PSP.

"We only intended to make a sharp contrast between black and white, but never meant to discriminate against anyone," Kato said. "Even though the ad was perceived in an unexpected way, we'd like to apologize to the people who were offended by the ads."

She said the complaints have come mostly from outside the Netherlands.

Last year, Sony sparked controversy in the United States with PSP ads disguised as graffiti.

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