Frau Antje is a Dutch character used in the advertising of cheese (and other dairy products). "Frau" is German for "Ms.", and "Antje" is a first name that is as acceptable in German as it is in Dutch: the character was created specifically for the advertising the export of Dutch cheese to Germany.
Frau Antje was born during the 1959 edition of the Berlin International Green Week, a trade fair for agriculture and nutrition. Apparently, a young Dutch woman from The Hague named Antje was working the booth of the Dutch Dairy Organization (NZB), serving cheese; when she fell ill and her colleagues kept being asked "where Frau Antje was", the chief of the NZB decided there was commercial potential in the idea. He hired Kitty Janssen to be the first Frau Antje (1961), dressed in a supposedly traditional Dutch costume and wearing wooden shoes.[1]
Frau Antje's costume, which was designed specifically for her, does not represent any specific traditional Dutch costume, though the "wings" on the headdress are reminiscent of the traditional costume of Volendam: since Volendam is a well-known tourist destination, it can be said to represent "Dutchness" pars pro toto.[2] The name Antje was chosen (or retained) since it appears to Germans as a typically Dutch name, and is indeed common in the three northernmost Dutch provinces.[3]
- ^ "Der Deutschen liebste Holländerin: Vor 65 Jahren: Emilie Bouwman alias "Frau Antje" geboren" (in German). Westdeutscher Rundfunk. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ Elpers, "Frau Antje--Die (Käse-)Botschafterin?" 333.
- ^ Elpers, "Frau Antje--Die (Käse-)Botschafterin?" 337.