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Photoshop Magic Erases Black Man in Microsoft Ad
NBC11 ^ | Wed, Aug 26, 2009 | LORI PREUITT

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: black; marketing; microsoft; poland

1 posted on 08/26/2009 3:27:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

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...?


2 posted on 08/26/2009 4:16:06 PM PDT by AKSurprise ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke)
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To: nickcarraway

"I predict photoshop satirization will commence in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

3 posted on 08/26/2009 4:16:51 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: nickcarraway
It's laughable that anyone would even mention this.

Of course you're going to target your audience: it's not like there's a large black population in Poland.

4 posted on 08/26/2009 4:18:29 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: nickcarraway

Fact of reality. Most of the rest of the world is 100x+ more racist than the the US.


5 posted on 08/26/2009 4:18:48 PM PDT by Dallas59
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To: Psycho_Bunny

But if there was a black person in Poland, they should be using Microsoft.


6 posted on 08/26/2009 4:32:42 PM PDT by Pan_Yan (All grey areas are fabrications.)
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To: nickcarraway
Selective advertisting:

1. Colt .45 2. Lotto

3. PayDay Loans

4. Chevy Camaro

5. MicroSoft - WTF?

7 posted on 08/26/2009 4:47:32 PM PDT by IllumiNaughtyByNature (If the Average nObama Voter is Anything Like Peggy Joseph, The Next 4 Years Will Be A Hoot!!!!)
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To: Dallas59

What??? They deleted the guy from Warsaw???


8 posted on 08/26/2009 5:28:21 PM PDT by OldEagle
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t think either one is real. Come on now, smiling people and Microsoft software?


9 posted on 08/26/2009 6:11:41 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: Disambiguator
Its just a little too late for Michael Jackson :)
10 posted on 08/26/2009 6:53:12 PM PDT by mountn man (The pleasure you get from life, is equal to the attitude you put into it.)
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To: USMCPOP
Come on now, smiling people and Microsoft software?

You can achieve that effect with drugs.

11 posted on 08/26/2009 7:57:18 PM PDT by Lee N. Field (Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth.)
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To: nickcarraway

Dang. That’s got to be the first time in the history of advertising that an image was enhanced.


12 posted on 08/26/2009 10:20:41 PM PDT by VisualizeSmallerGovernment (This Little Piggie Gets Wee Wee'd Up All The Way Home)
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To: nickcarraway

OK , Who can put the squirrel head on the body?


13 posted on 08/26/2009 10:24:21 PM PDT by right way right
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