I don't understand Microsoft on this... rAted! (for pointing out a corporate idiotocrosy{my word...yes})

Seriously? They think in this day and age someone wouldn't pick up on that right away?

Nice going Microsoft. I'm starting to like the thin guy in the Apple commercials more and more every day.

Rated.

I don't see any problem with it in theory, but it was just done so poorly - the new head looks like it's at a bit of an odd angle and they didn't bother "whitening" the hand.

But as for the race thing - no problem - and I'm guessing we wouldn't have even heard of this if they had photo shopped a black head onto a white guy - what seems to have made this media worthy is the unspoken insinuation that there is something "wrong" with editing out the black guy.

Busted.

fins - it isn't that they shouldn't target market. it was the cheap assed stupid way they did it. they certainly could afford to use their Getty Image library or photoshop a whole person, or use a new photo. Just the head switch is well, creepy and thoughtless. I am sure the black dude in the photo might think so too, as would any of us if we were photoshopped like that - even though MS owns the image. Just saying.

yes - strange that they would go about it that way, however I'm guessing that it occurred fairly far away from the corridors of power, per se. Probably some underpaid marketing staffer in Poland was told to modify the ad for a Polish audience, and his boss probably through in the added instruction, "...and while you're at it, get rid of the black guy". : )

hmmm

This is fantastic. Not what they did -- that sucks -- but your commentary. Brilliant! A fix like Vista... ah hahaha.

Thank you Saturn. (I'm blushing).

They need to hire Freaky.

Steve - a splendid idea!

It's Poland, for God's sake. Get out of the USA someday and see that the whole world does not look like America. Very different, in fact. Not a priori better or worse, just different. It's like in all major department stores in Japan, all the mannequins are white Caucasian male and female mannequins. Go figure.

Duh.

I'm assuming the point of the ad was to suggest that Microsoft will meet the needs of Polish businessmen. It's a lot harder sell if your picture is one that doesn't look like a bunch of Polish businessmen. While the average white person doesn't stand out as not Polish, the average black guy does.

I'm sure there are black Poles, but I'm also sure they make up a vanishingly small percentage of the population. A picture of a typical American corporate meeting is not doing much to convince Poles that Microsoft is going to meet the needs of Polish business.

And before you ask what the difference is, it's in the quality of translation of the menus and help and the support for accents or other characters used in the Polish alphabet. Who wants to have to use 'Insert Special Character' every time you type a standard letters?

Hi there, do you guys like dating cougars? Are you a cougar who's looking for a cub? Are you looking for a NSA or serious relationship, you can get what you want here:
=====- Cougarster.Com -=====
It's where cougars and younger men can meet(Cougar is the slang for woman who is mature, experienced and want to date with a younger man).5

Forget the racial implications! What amazes me is how quickly companies get caught messing with the truth in this tech savvy world.

Luv it!

hmmm indeed. I mean it's not like they are running out of money is it? Cheap, tacky, and busted.

Being in the Ad business, I can see how it happened even with a large company like Microsoft. With all the things that can go wrong with advertising it is a small miracle that there are so few screw ups.
Unlike other departments the marketing department's mistakes end up being seen by the world.

This would be a typical scenario.

Ad is produced and sent out for approval weeks in advance to the publication date. Everyone signs off on the ad except for some VP or marketing manager in Poland. The client says that is OK produce the ad they don't really have any say so anyway.

At the last minute the manager from Poland informs the VP of marketing in the US that there are no or few black people in Poland.

The VP calls the ad manager who calls the agency rep and he contacts the creative department. The creative department contacts the media department who gets a one day extension from the publication.

The agency quickly substitute a new photo with more "Polish" looking people. The client says they liked the other photo better could you just change the black guy? The creative department rushes to make the changes and send back to the client. The client who is in a meeting finally gets back to the agency around 4:50 in the afternoon with a few more changes. This goes back and forth until the next day around 3:00. Finally the agency tells them they are out of time and the files must be sent to the publication. No one feels good about the ad, but time is up and it is sent.

Of course this could all be avoided if the person who has made everyone jump through hoops for the last 24 hours would have just opened their email three weeks ago and looked at the ad there would have been time to fix it properly.

But it is the agency's fault because the client is always right.

In all likelyhood, this is an image that was bought off of istock for about $10. Then, when they decided to target it for a different audience, they returned to istock and bought a different model. I seriously doubt if Microsoft paid to have models, photographer, studio, etc, since this isn't a real ad campaign. These ads aren't really trying to get customers as much as they are trying to remind you that the product still exists. They were going for ad continuity.

It's not that it's racist - it's that it's cosmically STOOPID on M$FT's part!

They didn't realize they were going to run the same ad in Poland as they were in the USofA? To quote Rachel Maddow, "ReaLLY?!?!?!?"

M Tod:

Maybe the problem is trying to have one ad (and picture) that looks Polish in Poland and American in America and, no doubt, Mexican in Mexico. My bet is that the Poles got the American ad (with no input) promptly pointed out this is going to look like a cheap dubbed version of a US ad and make their software look like a cheap fix on software written for the US and got someone to make the change.

Mal, that could have happened as well. There has always been deadlines, but with the Internet and digital imaging and publishing clients tend to wait till the last minute. Lead time for projects has consistently contracted to the point clients want and demand turnarounds of hours and days not weeks.

When this happens things fall through the cracks. In the corporate world everyone is doing double duty, so nothing gets the attention it needs.