Racist Microsoft?

[jaxxster]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8221896.stm

Basically the rereleased a picture advert from the us in poland, the original picture from the us showed a black man in the middle but in thepolish ad they got rid of the black guy and replaced him with a white guy.

 

[raulpica]

Haha, they didn't even care to change the guy's hand! Oh man

 

[GeekyGuy]

Oh yeah, that's obviously racism.

Could be a number of technical reasons why that dude's face isn't there, one being an issue of royalties for the model.

 

[OmerMe]

LOL, that's awesome. xD

 

[purplesludge]

Oh yeah, that's obviously racism.

Could be a number of technical reasons why that dude's face isn't there, one being an issue of royalties for the model.

Didn't think of that, but more than likely just trying to match the demographic.

 

[FAST6191]

Reminds me of something I read once.....

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=stock_photos

 

[p1ngpong]

Weak Microsoft, very weak.

For great justice!

Spoiler

 

[Brian117]

Haha p1ng.

I can't believe they didn't even bother changing the hand. They could of probably gotten away with it if they at least did that.

 

[dragonbladerxx1]

stupid polish microsoft *puts middle finger on micrsofts face*

 

[Guild McCommunist]

They were obviously so racist that they kept the Asian guy in there.

What I do find funny though is that they still kept the black guy's hand in there. For all the experience Microsoft has with computers, you'd think they could've done a better job photoshopping the guy's head on and make the dude's hand white.

And yes, they were probably fitting into the demographic. You think if they're going to advertise in some African country they'll keep a bunch of white people in there? No. They'll probably do a picture with a bunch of black dudes. Same goes for Japan or China.

 

[Satangel]

I don't care at all, I wonder why you even bother posting this shit.
There's probably a good reason, don't be paranoid.

 

[Gullwing]

Omg...they lack so much in photoshop skills...lol

 

[MaHe]

This might seem outrageous in ethnically mixed western nations like USA, Canada and UK, but it's perfectly normal in ethnically homogeneous countries. And no - it's not racist. I don't know about Poland, but I live in a country with 99,7% white population - in fact the only non-whites I've ever seen (in my country of course) were some black guy from Zimbabwe that used to go our school and the staff of a local Chinese restaurant. Promoting racial diversity just doesn't work here and I bet it's the same in Poland.

 

[pitman]

Photoshop had issues on windows so they had to use an alternative.

 

[jgu1994]

Reminds me of something I read once.....

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=stock_photos

That's such a hilarious article. And I don't think Microsoft is being racist, I think they're just trying to fit in with the demographics like purple sludge said.

 

[GeekyGuy]

This might seem outrageous in ethnically mixed western nations like USA, Canada and UK, but it's perfectly normal in ethnically homogeneous countries. And no - it's not racist. I don't know about Poland, but I live in a country with 99,7% white population - in fact the only non-whites I've ever seen (in my country of course) were some black guy from Zimbabwe that used to go our school and the staff of a local Chinese restaurant. Promoting racial diversity just doesn't work here and I bet it's the same in Poland.

Yeah, I could believe that. It would only be racist if you had a mixed population of ethnicity. But like you say, if the population is almost completely one type of culture, consumers will have trouble identifying with certain types of models. However, that doesn't explain why the Asian dude was left in the pic.

Either way, it's just another moronic news story (not the TC but the original story). To toss that up there without any supporting information is really bad journalism.

 

[Whizz]

I saw this on Failblog. The Polish version is hilarious. Look at that head, it does not fit at ALL!
And his hands, lol.


But racist? They're just adjusting the campaign to fit Poland. And Photoshopping is cheaper than doing the shoot over but with Polish (white) people.

 

[Ferrariman]

Further proving my theory that anything with a black guy in it is racist.

 

[Hadrian]

So racism now means "inconsiderate"?

To me they weren't being racist, just stupid. Still bad that they have to think "ooh do Polish people like Black people? Well lets take him out anyway just to be safe, hey we don't want to lose the racist buck now do we!" in this day and age.

Further proving my theory that anything with a black guy in it is racist.

My friend Claire's vagina is racist I guess now.

 

[Depravo]

Photoshop? I could do a better job with Microsoft paint.

My friend Claire's vagina is racist I guess now.

What a racist cunt.