Microsoft Poland Or The Biggest Racist Photoshop Disaster Ever
This is probably the most racist event lately, and it’s sad that one of the biggest companies in the world is involved. Two pictures of a Microsoft ad campaign in two difference countries were leaked on the Internet. The picture for the US was showcasing an Asian man, a black man, and a white woman at a conference, and there is nothing wrong with that.
However, at the Microsoft Poland website the same picture was present, but there was a big difference. The head of the black man had been replaced with a head of a white man. Why would Microsoft do that? Who knows, but they should definitely investigate and take some actions. In the Microsoft Poland picture you can see how the hand of the white man is still black.
The Photoshop disaster doesn’t end here. Neither does the racism. Microsoft apologized for the picture, and somewhat said that it’s an ethnicity thing as there aren’t too many black people in Poland, but the problem is that there aren’t too many Asians in Poland. So if this wasn’t a racist issue then the company should have removed the Asian man too.
There are too many things wrong with this picture. Racism is the biggest problem, and there are other Photoshop disasters like where is the cable of the monitor, and why is there a MacBook in a Microsoft ad?
Microsoft will try to solve their troubles, but I know that the Internets will never forgive them. And why should they?
via Mashable
- THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY:
- Dragos Pirvu
So I'll wait a bit more to...
What is the uproar here ??? I don’t get it. It’s called marketing to a certain geographic. Poland doesn’t have a large black population. It’s a very homogenous society thanks to the fact that Poland was behind the Iron Curtain for 45 years and as a result was closed off to the western world until now. Since the fall of the Curtain in 1989 and especially since Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004 interest in Poland has been growing exponentially both in tourism, business activity and foreign investment. The fact that Microsoft removed the “black” man and not the “asian” man is due to the fact that many asian companies have set up shop and have invested billions in Poland. How many African nations have invested in Poland? There is nothing racist here !!!
PJ, i’m guessing you are a white man. that being said, no smart business in this day and age is going to think so locally. polish people are not going to disassociate themselves with an ad campaign just because they don’t identify with the people in the ad, rendering it ineffective. only a racist would think so. end of story.
I’m a black guy and I dont think this is racist. In African, Asian or even Oriental countries they market ads with very few white or contrasting faces. Its more a matter of demograpghic targeting. If this was done in western europe where the majority of “black europeans” reside, then it might call for an outcry, we need to understand that possibly a large part of eastern europeans haven’t seen a black person before even in 2009.
PJ – I dont think this has anything to do with Asians setting up shop in Poland, your insight is slightly flawed.
One thing thats a bit concerning is the altered picture has a white face with black hands!!!!
Olly, sorry, but using “Oriental” is politically incorrect, and quite frankly, wrong. I’m Asian, and the word “Oriental” to describe a group of Asians is quite hurtful.
If this is racist then why are they still using the ad with the black man in it? It’s not like some racist exec saw the original and made them change it, both are used in different regions just as others were saying before me.
As stupid as the screw up is, I suspect less sinister reasons. Who knows, maybe that white guy is the web master for the Polish site who wanted to show off his mad Photoshop skillz to his friends by sticking his head on the body? Yes, I’m white, but I’ve also worked in the ad-agency business for over 10 years. Stuff gets Photoshopped for a lot of weird reasons and sometimes by people who aren’t supposed to alter the images. Or, there are quick ‘mock ups’ done for whatever reason that accidentally get published (a big no-no, but it can happen).
Ironically, had they just replaced the guy at the original photo shoot, nobody would have known or cared. But, it’s probably a stock photo? If it were a shoot exclusively for M$, I would think they would have realized how dumb it would be to have a MacBook right there in the middle!
If you want racist, you should check out the articles at sites like the Consumerist on Nigerian scammers where they use stock photo pictures of American blacks doing fairly normal things (like holding a box) and sticking the picture in their articles implying that he’s a Nigerian stealing from little old ladies in the US. BTW- Don’t do that. Buying a stock photo doesn’t give you the legal right to make the model in the photo appear evil. They can sue you for that.
isnt poland an asian country?
I am a black woman and I don’t see this at all racist. It’s nothing new to cater to a specific geographic location and make your product to suit for buying customers of a service/product. The biggest thing was that it was not done properly AT ALL. It was a gigantic mess and very poorly executed which people sure aren’t letting Microsoft live down. I kind of still laugh when I see how the hand was not altered at all; it was just done really, really badly.
My ex-husband is from Poland, came here as a teenager. I am very familar with his family members here and back in Poland. While it may not be the case with all those in Poland, I won’t begin to repeat what many of them said at the mere sight of anyone even deeply tan in complexion. I don’t mean to single out Poland, but their dislike for people of color was scary from my experience. Not that it makes what Microsoft did right, but I was not suprised. I would not want to be black and live in Poland, that is for sure. Horribly sad and a good reason, perhaps, why Poland lags behind in progress in the 21st century.
I’m in the military and I work with NATO and we have some Polish people in our squadron and they’re constantly rubbing my skin…joking those it come off. And they call all the black guys Fifty Cent and they always refer the black U.S. Armed forces members as NATO slaves. It’s annoying but it is not their fault…they need more education.
Nothing racist here, PJ’s insight is great. BTW, I’m a South African born from Polish parents (they emigrated to SA in the 80’s) naturalized in the US. So, technically that makes me Polish African American – whatever is said can potencially be offensive to me:)
Re: Ryin Healey
You forgot to add that the WW2 would quite deserved by these Polish racists.
The reality is that nobody cares about Blacks, Asians, whatever. As in your case – you can be whatever colour but that doesn’t make you any less a short-sighted, uninformed moron.
There really is no need to make a big deal out of it. It can be looked at either way. Maybe racist. Maybe not. The fact of the matter is that there is and will always be racism. I deal with it sometimes and other times I don’t. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and sometimes dealt with the race card sometime I dealt it. I lived up north in Wisconsin and Connecticut. Connecticut did not focus on race so much. Wisconsin was a cross between Texas and Connecticut. Racism will not go away. No matter how hard you try, IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY! It has always been around since the BC times. English to the French and vise versa, Germans to Hungarians and vise versa, Russian to the Americans and vise versa, Mexicans to the Puerto Ricans and vise versa, Italians to the Spanish and vise versa. IT WILL NEVER CHANGE. The only thing we can go is do the best that we can do to NOT play the race card. When it is played on us, we take matters as needed. But why do we have to get soooooo upset over stupid two or three sided things. And I am sending this from my MacBook Pro that has MICROSOFT Office on it. Relax people. Quit trying to find stupid stuff to argue about. Save your battles for something bigger.
The real disaster is the horrible job on the second picture. They didnt change the coloring of the hand and the lighting on the head is the exact opposite of the shadowing.
I’m mullato, and to be honest I’m not offended at all. Most people have already talked about demographics and blah blah blah and they’re right. The only thing offensive about this ad is how horrible the photoshop job is
Umm, This is Poland not the US with it’s huge racist undertones. There is and probably was no malicious intent in the publishing of the image.
People who keep bringing up the Race BS are them same people who are keeping racism alive. You give it a voice to be heard and it will be a tool used for reaction.
Just like the article the other day when a drunk young black man went into the wrong home. Stripped down naked and passed out in a 6 year olds bed cried “Racial Profiling”. This type of behavior needs to end in america. No living person in the US was a slave. And very few living people grandparents were even alive prior to the civil war.
@theDark : As a Polish person, I agree with PJ & Olly’s assessments. You market to your demographic. You say that in this day and age people don’t do that, but this isn’t talking about marketing to Los Angeles with a black person and switching it out for a white person in San Francisco. It’s an entirely different country with an entirely different demographic. Asian co’s invest there and are more common.
I’m with PJ on this one, I don’t think Microsoft intended to be racist at all. They are marketing towards a certain countries and this is what happened. I’m sick of all this racist crap, I don’t care what color people are, we are all bloody human. Microsoft shouldn’t off photoshoped it though.
@Jason are you kidding me with this…
“Olly, sorry, but using “Oriental” is politically incorrect, and quite frankly, wrong. I’m Asian, and the word “Oriental” to describe a group of Asians is quite hurtful.”
he referred to the COUNTRIES as “Oriental,” not to a group of Asians! And “Oriental,” when used in the geographic context, is perfectly innocent; it just means “Eastern”
This is what i mean lol, people are so sensitive about stupid words like this, like i couldn’t care less if people called me a skip or Ozzie and big nose round eyed lol. Its who we are and that’s that.
the lady is hot
POLAND IS RACIST ,………I WORK WITH POLISH PLS ,THEY ALL HAVE SAME MENTALITY.THEY NEVER WORKED IN MULTYCULTURAL SOCIETY BEFORE, UNTILL NOW,….SO THEY THEY ARE JEALOUS OF OTHER COMMUNITY’S GROWTH…..ALTHOUGH I ACCEPT THAT WE ALL ARE RACIST IN SOMEWAY, BUT POLISH PLS EXPRESS IT, THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE SOCIAL.
#POLAND IS RACIST ,………I WORK WITH POLISH PLS ,THEY ALL HAVE SAME MENTALITY.THEY NEVER WORKED IN MULTYCULTURAL SOCIETY BEFORE, UNTILL NOW,….SO THEY THEY ARE JEALOUS OF OTHER COMMUNITY’S GROWTH…..ALTHOUGH I ACCEPT THAT WE ALL ARE RACIST IN SOMEWAY, BUT POLISH PLS EXPRESS IT, THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE SOCIAL.#
If this wasn’t as Racist as peoples are saying here , why does Microsoft had to send an apology ?
Guys , please let admit fact and go forward beating around the bushes as many are doing here won’t realy help.
Marketing or not Microsoft will have to review his worldwide strategy.
I regret working for them . I really do
Polack’s are racist, they hate black people. If you don’t believe me go there and ask around.
Question for everyone who thinks this is racist and horrible….
How many of you are going to put your money where your mouth is and stop buying Microsoft products? Edisa if this is such a regretable horrible thing then step up and quit your job.
Its so easy to point fingers and call people names and tell other people how they shoud be thinking and acting and yet never take action yourself.
.. to the one who asled about putting money where your mouth is.
Who said anyone here actually pays for Microsoft products?
PLUS I bet Microsoft wasn’t even in charge of this project, they pay other companies to make this stuff.
great link here
http://beatroot.blogspot.com/2009/01/is-polands-racism-even-worse-than-its.html
Well, I dunno. As a cold business minded machine one would do whatever it must to sell the product/service. That said, like others have mentioned Poland has a rather minute ‘black’ population…very, very small. Others here have mentioned that Poles probably havent seem a black person in the flesh…I disagree..Same can be said for most residents of the Dakotas and Montana no?
Upon the falling of the iron curtain and inclusion into the the EU community there was a HUGE wave of young Poles that made a B-line for Western Europe..(it seems like most landed smak dap in London but i digress.) They are open and have been for 15+ years. Global village…they are not immune to it, they are well informed and have every occasion and opportunity to be as enlightend and open-minded as the next guy, but are they? On the aside there is some rather troublesome traits of virulent Xenophobia in Poland and Eastern Europe in general…dangerously so. Xenophobia is being kind…hyper nationalistic violent racism is more descriptive.
But If i’m going to to pump huge sums of money into a promotion and advertising campaign to market my widget am I going to be altruistic or cold and logical in the business sense…myself, I’ll be altruistic but again I dont have that kind of money to test my theory out with. Is Microsoft racist…Fundamentally I dont think so but maybe they have a advertising/marketing department devoid of amptly haired testes…yea mebbe.
Again there are huge numbers of people of Polish decent in the USA and Europe with relatives and associates back in the motherland, Poles have migrated to all corners of the EU and the USA..western Europe in particular being a multi-ethnic soup bowl, they are not so isolated as some might suggest…not by a long stretch.
It’s a strange thing, I have seen any number of Polish girls (twenty something migrants to the UK) going out, wining and dining with afro-caribean males..very common on London but Polish males seem to be the flagwavers of xenophobia..Cant understand why one would come to a country like England if you dont like brown folk..makes no sense whatsoever.
Again, Poland although having suffered under the yoke of German hyper nationalism (nazis) and then crushed and subjugated under the slavic communist sledgehammer somehow comes out of this with a particular dislike for ‘blacks’ which spans the gammut from Roma Gypsies thru black Africans..weird huh? Again..not everyone of course, but the numbers of this country of 44+ million is significant. What about that rise in Nazi inspired hooligan gangs…Polish Nazi gangs…are u kiddin me???
Off the point a little but perhaps lends insight into the choice to omit the black fellow off the picture for this particular market…not that thats a honorable reason.
Microsoft…grow a pair…or buy a pair you have enuf coin.
One day I’m gonna figure out how to write short concise statements….
here is another link
http://www.dailymotion.pl/video/x500y1_bbc-inside-sport-poland-football-ra_sport
First of all I’m Polish
Thing with this picture is I guess pulled out by some maniac who wanted to see such thing in worldwide news. I think it was just a job made simultaniously with tranlation of a text – maybe stupid joke of one photoshoper.
Sill for lots of poles – Asina, Black and other orgin people are something exotic. They aren’t see them very often so it causes weird behavior. On top of all there are part of society which are rasist (hooligans, idiots that don’t have anythitg to do apart from drinking and threating other in community). I’m definetly not one of them and I realy doubt that there are more than 0.5% of racist in the group of people who are enough inteligent to use a computer and to buy Microsoft products.
I’ve been living in UK for over 1 year dealing with British people also with Black and Indian orgin and never treated them worse. But there was few moments back then when I feel ashamed to be Polish because of words or opinions made by other idiots from Poland who were not suppose to work, live or exist in any other place than prison.
Hope that you’re have not all the same opinion about Polish people.
Regards
Lukasz