Oops, Racism at Microsoft? Impossible
Posted on 27. Aug, 2009 by Devo in Just Dumb
Can you spot the differences in the two photos? This photo was taken last September to be used as part of a marketing campaign. However it is a feat of incredible stupidity and perhaps racism, the photo was altered and the face of a white man replacing the black man’s face. Only problem is, the hands of the black man remained the same.
The photo appeared in it’s original state on Microsoft’s US site, but it’s Polish site showed the altered version. Poland’s population is over 90% white and in what is speculated as that they were just attempting to show what is normal in Poland. Since that time Microsoft says the persons responsible for the altered photo have left the company (hmm).
Reactions to this image are coming in fast and furious now forcing Microsoft to apologize for the ‘intentional’ error’ and it’s only a matter of time before anti racial groups jump on the bandwaggon asking for heads to roll at Microsoft. Fact is, this happens all the time. I have seen it before and read about it before and before writing this I did a few searches on the topic of racial photo altering and it’s pretty rampant.
“We apologize and are in the process of pulling down the image,”
Later, a spokeswoman for Microsoft in Poland said that the doctoring was a “simple mistake” and was not racially motivated.
Was it a simple mistake? No it wasn’t. As I said, Poland has a very very small black population and are depicting what is normal in their society. Depicting racism probably wasn’t on their mind, but it is clear that not a lot of thought towards what the repercussions might be was done before doctoring the image. This type of thing isn’t acceptable and for a spokeswoman to call it a simple mistake is once again publicly denying responsibility.
By the way, what kind of laptop does he have? Isn’t that a MacBook with the logo photoshoped out?
I file this under Just Dumb
7 Responses to “Oops, Racism at Microsoft? Impossible”
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Oops, Racism at Microsoft? Impossible
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Nedekcir
28. Aug, 2009
If Microsoft is own by black person, I bet no one will get upset or call it racist if there is no white person on the picture. And guess what the picture is still racist because there is no Indian, middle east and other race there.
Reel Advice
29. Aug, 2009
I saw this one a few days ago. I say shame on Microsoft.
Krystal
01. Sep, 2009
I’m a graphic designer. I am also a dyed in the wool mac lover and Microsoft detractor. As much as I’d like to heckle the “evil empire” here, this was most likely motivated by the realities of design in a corporate setting rather than any kind of malicious intent on the part of Microsoft. The Art Director or CD probably decided to alter a stock image for reasons of showing diversity and the artist who did it missed the hands, then no one caught it in proofing. A lot of times, budget or time constraints do not allow for custom photo shoots. You do the math. Stock images cost between $25 and $200, whereas a custom shoot with models and makeup is $2,000+. It’s pretty easy to see why for a small campaign like this, they went with stock. The practice of altering stock images to fit whatever corporate/design mandate the higher ups decide on is VERY widely used in advertising/graphic design. A good photoshop artist can create a new reality in just an hour or two and you could never tell.
The irony here is that Microsoft was most likely trying to be INCLUSIVE rather than portray an all-white world and tripped themselves up on their own quest to meet the pressure to be “diversified” in advertising.
It really was a case of good intentions and the road to hell.
Krystal
01. Sep, 2009
and it does go both ways. if Poland is 95% white and all white people is what you’d see in any Polish board room, then of course they changed the stock image reflect what their audience expects to see. In marketing, you have to talk to your audience and take their reality into consideration. You can’t offend people in Poland with western “diversity” mandates if that isn’t being pushed in their society.
Devo
02. Sep, 2009
You have a terrific point there Krystal. Thanx for the other side of the coin.
Gibble
21. Sep, 2009
I’m sort of wondering if this is political correctness gone mad,
If the shoe was on the other foot e.g. a white guy being replaced with a black guy so it could be a photo that could be better marketed in Africa….who would care? The only people who get upset would most likely be the white supremacy people and seriously who really who cares about those guys any more..?
In fact if the shoe was on the other foot, people would be all like..it’s affirmative action, we’re representing the people etc…
I mean if we want to live in a world with out racism then just maybe people shouldn’t be getting on their high horse about every little thing…
In hindsight it was obviously a dumb thing to do and probably driven by targeting the audience and trying to keep marketing costs low…it happens in big companies.
So lets not try to get all xenophobic about it, Microsoft make a lot of money out of all their customers…not just the white ones!
Jeyc
19. Nov, 2009
I’d be hung up on to be au fait that too!