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Microsoft Apologizes for Gaffe in Online Ad

 

By Patrick Oppmann

CNN

 

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Software giant Microsoft apologized Wednesday for the apparent bad judgment that led to the head of a black model being swapped for that of a white model in an online advertisement.

 

A black man in an online Microsoft ad was replaced with a white man, bottom, on the company's Polish Web site.

 

The ad -- which showed three business people, one Asian, one white and one black -- was altered on Microsoft's Web site for Poland to place the head of a white man on a black man's body.

 

"We apologized, fixed the error and we are looking into how it happened," said Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman.

 

He said that because the company was still reviewing how the swap occurred he could not comment further.

 

On Microsoft's official page on the social network site Twitter, a posting calls the swap "a marketing mistake" and offers "sincere apologies."

 

The business Web site CNET.com, which first published reports of the swap, wrote that the change in models may have been made with the "racially homogeneous" Polish market in mind.

 

I know the issue is really that Poland is the racist entity, but still, use a different picture entirely. This is just bad bad bad and dumb dumb dumb marketing.

Well the thread title is clearly inaccurate. I don't see the problem. Every ad in every market is designed to appeal to those in the market. Hell, ads in NY City will look different than those in upstate NY. Why take a completely different picture when the outcome will be the same?

that is such a hilariously bad photoshop job. They even left the black models hand

that is such a hilariously bad photoshop job. They even left the black models hand

 

The entire body is the same. I guess that's why the white guy's head looks out of proportion.

The entire body is the same. I guess that's why the white guy's head looks out of proportion.

 

Oh i know the body is the same. You would figure if they removed the head, they would try and edit the hand too

Oh i know the body is the same. You would figure if they removed the head, they would try and edit the hand too

There's a really bad joke in there somewhere.

 

This needed to be brought to attention for that reason alone. Hell, if that's the best your photoshop guys can do MICROSOFT, hire me for the exorbitant amount you pay those idiots!

There's a really bad joke in there somewhere.

 

So Bill Gates and a Polish man walked into a bar.....

Didn't the University of Wisconsin do the same thing on a student handbook a couple of years ago?

Milton Bradley thinks this ad was done in Chicago...

Milton Bradley thinks this ad was done in Chicago...

Biggest waste of $30 million ever.

Didn't the University of Wisconsin do the same thing on a student handbook a couple of years ago?

I think they added a black person to the cover so the same guy was on there twice

Wasn't there a cutout of Obama that was his head photoshopped onto a white guy's body?

I think they added a black person to the cover so the same guy was on there twice

I thought that was on [scrubs]. Sad that it really happened.

Well the thread title is clearly inaccurate. I don't see the problem. Every ad in every market is designed to appeal to those in the market. Hell, ads in NY City will look different than those in upstate NY. Why take a completely different picture when the outcome will be the same?

Is it that hard to just take a new picture with 3 white people in it?

Is it that hard to just take a new picture with 3 white people in it?

 

That's just crazy talk. Where the hell are you going to find three white people in Poland?

Is it that hard to just take a new picture with 3 white people in it?

They're just pissed that someone has some poor ADOBE photoshop skillz.

This makes Microsoft racist? Really?

Is it that hard to just take a new picture with 3 white people in it?

 

What difference would it make?

What difference would it make?

If you have, say, a nationwide restaurant chain, are you going to run the exact same ads during Dancing with the Stars as you would during music videos on BET?

If you have, say, a nationwide restaurant chain, are you going to run the exact same ads during Dancing with the Stars as you would during music videos on BET?

 

No, but that doesn't mean you won't try to save money by altering the commercial rather than re-shooting it.

Is it that hard to just take a new picture with 3 white people in it?

 

lol right

 

I guess that's the only picture Microsoft has of some business people sitting at a table

 

lol right

 

I guess that's the only picture Microsoft has of some business people sitting at a table

 

Well it was the only one that didn't involve the table being cleaned...

If only they had Adobe Photoshop, they used Microsoft Paint, no wonder it was f***ed up.

 

With computer graphics, do we even know these were ever actual human models? I remember a documentary from twenty years ago that predicted the demise of television and movie actors as studios just used computers for everything.

 

You want the customer to see themselves in the picture and to be sensitive to the culture of the target market. Poor execution.