Posted on 08/26/2009 3:27:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Microsoft is fessing up and apologizing for altering a Web site photo to change a person's race.
A photo on the Seattle-based company's U.S. Web site shows two men and a woman sitting around a conference table. The ad reads, "Empower your people with the IT tools you need."
For the U.S. audience the men are Asian and African American. But on the Web site of Microsoft's Polish business unit, the black man's head has been replaced with a white face. When you look real hard, its clear there is something off about the white man sitting in the middle on the Polish site. His head is off and his hand is a little more tan than it should be. Whoever did the photoshop didn't bother to change the color of the subject's hand.
This is the photo people in Poland see.
The man in the middle is an African American The photo editing has sparked criticism of course. Some bloggers summize Poland's ethnic homogeneity may have played a role in changing the photo.
Microsoft spokesperson Lou Gellos said the company is looking into the situation. "We apologize and are in the process of pulling down the image," Gellos said.
Lol, who cares, they are just appealing to that particular audience in Poland. If they replaced a white guy with a black guy’s head to advertise in say Kenya, do you think anyone would say anything about this...?

"I predict photoshop satirization will commence in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
Of course you're going to target your audience: it's not like there's a large black population in Poland.
Fact of reality. Most of the rest of the world is 100x+ more racist than the the US.
But if there was a black person in Poland, they should be using Microsoft.
What??? They deleted the guy from Warsaw???
I don’t think either one is real. Come on now, smiling people and Microsoft software?
Come on now, smiling people and Microsoft software?
You can achieve that effect with drugs.
Dang. That’s got to be the first time in the history of advertising that an image was enhanced.
OK , Who can put the squirrel head on the body?
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