What do the Sioux Grashopper, Hollywood, and one of Germany's most famous cinematographers have in common? The answer takes us back to 1967.
Just a few years after the Grashopper was created at Sioux, the shoe became the star of an extraordinary commercial. Behind the camera was Michael Ballhaus – then still at the beginning of a career that would later lead him to Hollywood.
For Sioux, the film is therefore much more than historical advertising today. It is a small piece of film and brand history.
1967: The Grashopper makes its on-screen debut
The Grashopper was developed at Sioux in 1964 and quickly became one of the most iconic models in the company's history.
Just three years later, the extraordinary moccasin got its own television appearance. Together with Munich-based Insel-Film, Michael Ballhaus created a commercial for Sioux in 1967.
The commercial still seems unusual from today's perspective. It plays with the then-current ideas of fashion and gender roles and combines live-action with animation elements that were extraordinary for the time.
Naturally, the Grashopper is at the center of it all.
You can find out more about the history and special construction of the shoe at [Grashopper].
A young Michael Ballhaus behind the camera
When Michael Ballhaus shot the Sioux commercial, the greater part of his career was still ahead of him.
In the following decades, he developed into an internationally sought-after cinematographer. In Germany, he worked intensively with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder before his career led him to the USA.
His collaboration with Martin Scorsese became particularly well-known. Ballhaus was involved in films such as "GoodFellas", "Gangs of New York", "The Color of Money" and "The Departed" among others.
He was nominated for an Oscar three times for his cinematography.
The fact that Ballhaus was behind the camera for Sioux in his early creative phase makes the Grashopper commercial a very special document of our history today.
Advertising that is now contemporary history
Advertising is usually made for the moment. Products change, campaigns disappear, and new images take their place.
However, some recordings gain a completely different meaning over the years.
The 1967 Grashopper commercial not only shows a Sioux shoe. It also conveys a sense of the times of the late 1960s: imagery, fashion, gender roles, and the technical possibilities of advertising back then.
And at the same time, behind the camera is a man who years later would create some of the most famous images in international film history.
It is precisely this connection that makes the commercial so worth seeing today.
The Grashopper was still young itself
Even the main star of the film still had a great history ahead of him in 1967.
Sioux had only launched the Grashopper three years earlier. Its combination of moccasin construction, distinctive shape, and genuine natural crepe sole clearly distinguished it from many classic shoes of its time.
The Grashopper became a great success for Sioux and was interpreted many times over the decades and became a model for similar shoe concepts.
To this day, it is one of the models most closely associated with the Sioux name.
You can find out how the Grashopper came into being and what makes the original special under [Grashopper Original] and in our [Sioux History].
Two careers that met in 1967
From today's perspective, the old commercial has a special charm.
On one side is a Grashopper, which was then only at the beginning of its history. On the other side, Michael Ballhaus, whose international career was also still ahead of him.
In 1967, a later Sioux classic and a later world-class cinematographer met for a short commercial.
The fact that these recordings have been preserved gives us the opportunity today to take an unusual look back at the early years of the Grashopper.
And sometimes it is only decades later that we discover what stories are hidden in an old commercial.