Temporary employment giant Manpower has withdrawn an advert for holiday jobs at Schiphol airport after its attempt at street humour fell flat.

Critics said the advert had racist overtones because it used black and Moroccan street slang and implied the manual jobs were only suitable for people with an immigrant background.

‘Doekoe verdienen met bagage tillen op Schiphol?‘ (Earn cash carrying baggage at Schiphol), the advert said, in the form of a conversation between two people.

‘Kan ik dan die nieuwe patta’s kopen?,’ it continued, (Can I buy those new shoes then?). ‘Ja man! Je kan naar fissa’s gaan, batra’s halen en die gucci riem. Gucci alles,’ the answer went on. Fissas refers to parties, batras is alcohol and the Gucci belt is obvious.

‘We had hoped to reach people at vocational schools by using slang. It was not our intention to cause affront,’ marketing director Jeroen van Hooff said in Friday’s Volkskrant. ‘We got it wrong and we are sorry.’

KLM was not aware of the texts. ‘We were surprised and not happy,’ a spokesman told the paper.

Amsterdam youngsters told DutchNews.nl that the words have been widely adopted in the city’s youth culture. ‘I always talk about chappen and doekoe,’ one said. ‘The people complaining obviously don’t come from Amsterdam.’

Read the complete advert