Black mark for Microsoft's Photoshop skills

So what do we learn?

Microsoft are under the impression Poland is a racist nation?

The "new" head is somehow representative of Poland?

Somebody with no skills in photoshop (probably using Paint) was forced to "adapt" the photo in a hurry?

Oh, the fly on THAT wall has a tale to tell....

By cheysuli on 26 Aug 2009

MS Sites around the world

Does the Indian site have a guy with a turban on it?

Does the Arabic site have the lady in a Burqa (or actually is she a man there)?

What about other sites around the world where race or gender might have an impact on the sale and advertising of a product?

Though I admit in Poland it is rare to see a black or asian person on the majority of websites - that may be because they really are in the minority in Poland - but saying that they do have a black weather forecaster who just happens to be a complete stunner, most people tune into watch her and not the weather.

By nicomo on 26 Aug 2009

Hmm

I can understand how this might look, and why people might be upset, but from an advertizing perspective it's important to see why they did it. They aren't rascists or white supremesists. They are just using marketing demographics.

Poland is basically a white state. There are different kinds of white people, Slavic, Nordics, Western Weuropeans, Eastern Europeans, Roma, and so on, but most of the population is by and large some variation on white (Being more acucrate, there are almost no Africans or Indians). So it would stand to reason that the picture used should represent the target audience. If a Japanese company advertizes in America then it stands to reason that they would use white people in their ads. Having a room full of Asians with Asian writing on the flip charts and so on wouldn't make sense. The same if An African company were to Advertize in America. They'd use white actors, or if an American company were to advertize in India then they'd use actors who were representitive of the local people.

Photoshopping the guy out was monumentally insensitive, but they were right to change the ethnic makeup of the photograph to reflect the target audience. With hindsight they should have replaced the picture wholesale.

And before anybody gets presious, I'd like to remind everybody that that black guy was probalby included as a marketing demographic in the first place. The woman was probably included for the exact same reason. If this were a realistic situation they'd all be middle aged balding white men. America isn't that perfect. There is still a lot of inequality in business. US society is less equal than the marketing men would have you believe.

It's wrong, but it's the way that things are right now.

By Perfectblue97 on 26 Aug 2009

Dont Z's look wrong?

CAn PCPRO employ software to change spelling to GB English?
(being sarcastic)

By ianjenk247 on 26 Aug 2009

I agree that its understandable to have a different ethnic mix for each country. What is surprising is how stingy a company like MS is that it cannot afford to have separate photos.
At the time of the shoot they could have had a range of models from different ethnicities. Or if they only realised how good the photos were *after* taking them, they could have done another shoot - its not like it relies on a specific crowd/event/weather.
Who'd want to be a pro photographer, when a company thinks it can leave it to a schoolboy-Photoshop-er

By davidsoap on 26 Aug 2009

The apostrophes look wrong too...

... never mind the Zs.
(being playful)

By iclbmc1 on 27 Aug 2009

Everybody's blaming MS...

...but the pic was probably supplied by their advertising agency. As noted above, it's perfectly OK to change the demographics, it was just poorly (and insensitively) executed. BTW, nobody's complaing that they're photoshopped the logo out of a Macbook as well! MS using Macbooks after their latest campaign eh?!

By areluc on 27 Aug 2009

This so funny, awesome.

By dodge1963 on 29 Aug 2009