Microsoft apologizes for racial editing of a Polish ad
Microsoft on Wednesday apologized for photoshopping a black man out of a Polish ad for its business productivity software. The incident has caused an outcry of racism against Redmond from Twitter and the blogosphere. When I first saw the photoshopped pictures, I was appalled. I’d like to think that the business world is moving past such things and it is sad to see that we haven’t yet.
Microsoft has removed the questionable ad, and apologized, but enough copies are circulating on the Internet to see for yourself.
Note that the original ad didn’t include a picture of a white guy at all, so I guess ethnic inclusiveness is somehow more inclusive if it leaves out that segment of the population. An article from PC World noted other oddities about this poorly done altered stock photo:
“There are also a couple of other peculiar things about Microsoft’s (even unedited) image. First of all, the laptop in front of the black man is an Apple MacBook (yes, another Apple product in a Microsoft ad with the logo covered) and the computer monitor in front of the woman is not plugged into anything, even though the keyboard is.”
Also, interestingly, the last time we heard a public outcry over photoshopping for a racist bent, the trend was to photoshop ethnic diversity into marketing materials. Toronto got an earful when it photoshopped a black man onto the cover of its annual family summer guide. I guess a photographer couldn’t be expected to gather actual people with diverse genetic characteristics to put in front of a camera for a stock photo.
Click on the photo below to see the original stock photo.
So on a scale of 1 to 10, how wrong is this? My gut tells me that it’s about a seven. Microsoft is big enough and powerful enough to be leading a message of ethnic tolerance even in areas of the world that are offended by it. Then again, is that a fair burden to put on a company? Microsoft’s mission is to sell software not to lead a world peace movement.
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