Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Poland Photoshops Black Guy To White One

Posted by kdawson on from the extreme-localization dept.

wanted writes "If you look at Microsoft's Poland business solutions Web site, you will probably not notice anything odd about the main picture. However, when you compare it with the original English version, you can see that someone decided that showing black people in Poland is probably not going to be convincing to business. They just Photoshopped the head of a white guy in for the black one, in an amateurish way, leaving his hand unchanged. (Here's a mirror in case something should happen to the original.)" We noted a few months back that the city of Toronto had done something similar.

53 of 964 comments (clear)

  1. Even Stranger...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    is the white macbook in the picture......

    1. Re:Even Stranger...... by yoyhed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or the fact that the monitor isn't plugged into anything.

      By the way, I'd already read this on a couple other news sites, and the bluntness of Slashdot's headline cracked me up. The other sites said something like "Microsoft hires racist marketing team". Then Slashdot steps in with "MS PHOTOSHOPS WHITE DUDE OVER SOME BLACK GUY".

      --
      WHO NEEDS SHIFT WHEN YOU HAVE CAPSLOCK/ DAMN1
    2. Re:Even Stranger...... by Jurily · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What surprises me is that the black guy had to go, while the asian is alright.

      They couldn't just take a new fucking picture with Polish people on it, now could they?

    3. Re:Even Stranger...... by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Seems like the old stereotypes at work. Hire Asians, they're smart! Don't hire those negores, though; they're lazy and they steal!

      Having been born in a part of Europe that isn't much different from Poland, I can safely say that these stereotypes were quite common in much of Europe, at least while I was a child. When we moved to Canada, seeing asians didn't strike me as all that odd, but I really didn't know what to make of blacks. I got in trouble more than once at school for making racist comments about (or to) black classmates, but thanks to having spent my formative years in a nation which placidly accepts racial bigotry, it wasn't until years later that I really understood that there was anything wrong about the things I had said. I think it's hard for people who were born into multicultural societies to really understand what it's like being raised in that kind of culture.

    4. Re:Even Stranger...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      the ports on the side certainly look like an exact match to me.

      Maybe.

      But any Mac user know it's the ports in the rear that get the most use.

    5. Re:Even Stranger...... by mustafap · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't know what's funnier - your comment or the fact that it was modded 'Informative'

      --
      Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
    6. Re:Even Stranger...... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Racism is when you hate those who are different for no logical reason, not merely talk about it casually and be fine with it.

      Uh, no. Racism is not limited to "hate"- you can love people of one race over all others for no reason other than they are members of that race, that's still racism.

      However, what is total bullshit about your analysis is that you think "talking casually about it and being fine with it" is not racism. Duh! You judge an entire group based on the attributes of a few individuals, but because you joke about it you aren't racist?

      Dude, you've brainwashed yourself with your own rationalizations. You've embraced your own version of doublethink.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    7. Re:Even Stranger...... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you can't tell it to your best friend, who happens to be a gypsy, and expect a good laugh from it over a beer at the pub, it's you who thinks way too much about ethnicity.

      And if you personally can't replace "gypsy" with any ethnic group and find the joke just as funny then you are stereotyping. And puh-lease, "my best friend is a ..." is the first sentence in the book of how to be a racist.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    8. Re:Even Stranger...... by darkonc · · Score: 5, Interesting
      In grade 7 I went to a boarding school. One of my friends was a guy who was born in Texas in the late '50s. (( pertinent point: I'm half-black))

      He grew up in an all-white (segregated_ neighborhood where racist comments like "come on, act like a white man" were quite the norm.
      He didn't even think to question those kinds of comments until he ended up sharing a table with me for a couple of months. I'll tell you -- those racist comments were a hard habit to break. Even into the second month, he would still occasionally go "Oh come on, act like a whi.... blah, oh shit I did it again", and then spend the next couple of minutes apologizing to me.

      It would have been funny if it wasn't for the fact that he was so hurt by what was coming out of his mouth.

      My point though, is that -- until he met me, and the one other black student at the school, he hadn't even thought to reconsider the racist comments and jokes that he had grown up with -- or the racist attitudes that went with them.

      Now, I realize that anti-racism really has to go a long way past simply banning racist jokes, but that does, at least, cause people to consider that the other racist attitudes that may be floating around their space aren't the norm and/or don't represent the real (and generally rather minor) differences between the races.

      and, if you want to get a handle on just how close we all are, consider that geneticists were able to find more genetic diversity in a single band of chimps, than across the various human races.

      --
      Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
    9. Re:Even Stranger...... by Sebilrazen · · Score: 5, Funny

      My best friend is an ellipsis, what are you saying? (Though don't tell the other punctuation, I don't want them to think I'm playing favorites.)

      --
      "There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
    10. Re:Even Stranger...... by agentgonzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What makes me laugh is how carefully choreographed the original photo was. One black person, one asian, one white. Two men, one woman. It's amazing to see publicity photos etc and notice how many of them have the we-must-have-one-of-everything mentality in them. If everyone wasn't so paranoid about offending anyone, then the publicity shoot would have probably had a brief of "get three people in a room to look like they're having a fun meeting, then take a photo". Because everyone's afraid of being called a racist, I'm sure the brief would have included the caveat "Make sure one is black, one is Asian and at least one of them is a woman". The only thing that's missing is an "I'm gay" sign on one of them.

  2. Know your market. by palegray.net · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The racism flag seems to get trotted out a little too often these days. Statistically speaking, are there a heck of a lot of black guys in Poland? Honest question, really. I dislike Microsoft for a lot of things, but the racism tag seems a little odd; I wasn't aware they had a reputation in that department.

    --
    512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    1. Re:Know your market. by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Statistically, what are the chances of a perfect diversity trifecta of asian guy, black guy, and white woman? In an ad, pretty good. In real life, not so much.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    2. Re:Know your market. by MrKaos · · Score: 5, Funny

      Statistically, what are the chances of a perfect diversity trifecta of asian guy, black guy, and white woman? In an ad, pretty good. In real life, not so much.

      Rule 34?

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    3. Re:Know your market. by igny · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Many Polish people may indeed be nationalist, they may be anti-semites, russophobes... but racists? There are just not so many black people in Poland. Microsoft was probably right thinking that having black people in the ads would not connect in a 99.9% white population.

      --
      In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
    4. Re:Know your market. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I grew up in Poland (81-93). And yes there was very little diversity in our population especially coming out of the communist era, where Russian mandate purged Poland of almost all non-Natives. Which considering what they did to countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Georgia I consider generous! I would say given my experience it's not that Polish people are racist, it's more that racism is a very new concept. Having had grown up in a totally homogeneous society, I could not even conceptualize any other kind of a society. I did not consider attacking anyone just because they were different. The few people I did see that were Asian or African only invoked extreme curiosity in me.

      Then as communism fell the wave after wave of immigrants started to hit Poland. They could be seen begging for money on streets of all of our major cities. Not even sure where all of them were coming from, only thing that was apparent was there somewhat darker hue. These immigrants stoked all kinds of nationalistic feelings amongst my people, and often were met with violence. To understand such a strong response you must consider that prior to the fall of communism for many years (since the end of WW2) the word Pole was synonymous with Slavic and Catholic. There was no variation. So in essence it was as if the collective being of our society was under attack. Xenophobia was a very natural response (in a Human sense), and I believe it prevails to this day.

    5. Re:Know your market. by yoyhed · · Score: 5, Funny

      My favorite from Microsoft was for Visual C++ Express Edition. They used to have a couple of 17-18 year old Asian girls smiling and pointing at a computer screen as the headline picture for Express Edition's website. Who smiles and laughs at code with a friend anyway? Not hot Asian chicks.

      --
      WHO NEEDS SHIFT WHEN YOU HAVE CAPSLOCK/ DAMN1
    6. Re:Know your market. by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Prior to the Soviets? During the Soviets, my dearly departed grandmother was "exported" from Poland to a Siberian labor camp (as was the rest of her family), mostly since her father was a war hero in the earlier Polish-Bolshevik war. (He got some of the townsfolk from the nearby village of to help pull a few big machine-gun caissons out of a ditch, and subsequently helped save the rear ends of the retreating Polish cavalry. I don't think the Soviets liked the family. Too much initiative.)

      --
      The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
    7. Re:Know your market. by AHuxley · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Poland like many parts of Eastern Europe did 'clean' up after ww2 by driving out anyone not Polish.
      The last months of 1945-46 did let many parts of the Eastern Europe become very "homogeneous".
      Decades later you can blame the Germans up to 45, the Soviets post 45.
      In reality the locals did sort things out in a very permanent way.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    8. Re:Know your market. by lennier · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Speaking for myself, as a New Zealander, when I see African-looking people as the carefully-selected diverse-skin-tone group for a posed ad -- as opposed to Pacific Island or Asian, which are the faces we really see here -- it automatically makes me think "American". It's roughly the same effect as having people wearing cowboy hats and speaking in a twang.

      And that's generally an instant negative effect. It means you're saying "1. We're not a local company. 2. We're owned by some big American corporation you've never heard of who's never heard of you. 3. We're either too out of touch or too lazy to produce localised ad cop. 4. We're probably not going to localise any other resources for you, just design a one-size-fits-all media set in Texas and print 'em in China. 5. We're not going to listen to anything you have to say or care what your market segment thinks. 7. But we did run our media buy past our New York-based sensitivity screening group, so yay diversity!"

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    9. Re:Know your market. by Jurily · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are just not so many black people in Poland.

      Mod parent up. People in Central Europe don't give a shit about USian prejudices. We have our own.

      Do you hate gypsies?

    10. Re:Know your market. by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 5, Funny

      The racism flag seems to get trotted out a little too often these days.

      Come on. Everyone known those stupid polacks are dirty racists :o)

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    11. Re:Know your market. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As a "current" Pole (born 82) I have to say that I mainly agree with you. None the less I don't think that we are xenophobic. Some fringe cases, as for instance the ultra right wing minded and older people brought up in a different time are, as they always (or most of the time) are in other countries as well. But I wouldn't say that Poles in general are xenophobic or racism. The fact is that we didn't really have any diversity in society for a very long time and just now we begin to learn about new cultures, new people and so one. As you've said we are mostly curious.

      As to the matter at hand, Microsoft Poland did the "right" thing. A black (sorry I don't know what the PC way is of saying that :-)) man is a very rare thing in Poland, doubly so in a business context. So the ad wouldn't be as believable with him in it. The quality of the work is something completely diffrent

    12. Re:Know your market. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Poland has an unfortunate history both during and directly after the war, extending into the 60s. The embarassing reaction to the relatively recent release of Jan T Gross's book (hereby incorporated by reference) in which the former Kaczynski, the former Primitive Polish Prime minister even tried to prosecute the author.

      It's important to remember that during the war the Poles had much harder situations for rescuing Jews than in most other countries (you risked your entire family going to a concentration camp; elsewhere you risk only yourself and only prison) and many still did. It's also worth remembering that the reason Jews were in Poland was because they were historically treated better there than elsewhere. Poland is much further along coming to terms with and apologizing (though with reservations) for it's former anti-semitism (even Kaczynski has made efforts to return passports to the victims of the 60s) than a number of surrounding countries.

      Essentially anyone who tells you that Poles are all good is a Holocaust revisionist. As is anyone who tells you that they are all bad.

      In all cases where I referenced Wikipedia, all references in the page references are incorporated by reference as material to read. There; is that enough citations for you?

    13. Re:Know your market. by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it automatically makes me think "American".

      Pretty much any picture where obviously boring and unrealistically diverse people are fakely smiling for no apparent reason whilst wearing pastel coloured sweaters or light gray suits, it screams "american" to me. The second feeling I get is nausea from the candy-coated overdose of political correctness. Can anybody here identify with any of the people on that Microsoft photo?

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    14. Re:Know your market. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Do you hate gypsies?

      Yes, actually (see, I'm from Eastern Europe, too). Though I don't consider it racism, because the hatred isn't towards race or ethnicity - it is towards a specific culture (I wonder if there's a term for that), which, IMO, is really deserving it. A gypsy who doesn't live like one isn't one anymore, as far as I'm concerned.

    15. Re:Know your market. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Here's something nobody ever considers: what makes different skin colors "diverse"? They don't; they make people different colors. Associating race/color with diversity is a slight to all people, as it in and of itself is truly racist: "Oh, look; he has different color skin. He must be different/exciting/exotic/angry/mean/fun!" No, he's just a man - like you and like me, and every other goddamn man on this planet. (We then go on to associate their skin color or features with their behavior, as is biologically imperative, just as a soldier learns what an enemy combatant's uniform looks like or a dog learns that a specific bag that comes into the house every once in a while has treats.)

      Also, xenophobic and racist have two very distinctly different meanings. Racism is a hatred of an "essence" of a person's race, and those people; xenophobia is a fear (and maybe hatred) of outside cultures and forces, which is much more understandable (and natural, as such things tend to be disruptive.) What I suspect has happened in Poland (and has/is happening in many other places as well) is that it's an internal struggle trying to deal with what is seen as an invading culture and way of life - fear and anger at their structured world being disrupted, and someone 'forcing' change around them in their environment. Look at the Balkans for a perfect example: many distinctly different cultures, but all (mostly) very genetically similar people, yet... chaos. Their cultures are night and day from each other, resulting in an ethnic clusterf*ck.

      I think people in today's 'diverse' and 'connected' world need to take a step back and look at what used to make sense, in so many ways: good fences make good neighbors. All this cultural "blending" (which doesn't happen, ethnic ghettos form with a few stragglers leave to join the 'parent' culture to give the appearance of diversity) is not going to end well for anyone.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    16. Re:Know your market. by ciderVisor · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can't remember the man's name right now, but one American pilot was finally freed some years back, and living in Chicago. I read an interview that he did with someone, but can't even remember who interviewed him.

      +5 Informative.

      --
      Squirrel!
    17. Re:Know your market. by VJ42 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Though I don't consider it racism, because the hatred isn't towards race or ethnicity - it is towards a specific culture

      The Romani Gypsies prevalent in eastern Europe are an ethnic group, not a cultural one, so yes it is racism. Irish and "New age" travelers are a separate group and not properly referred to as Gypsies.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
  3. Who else was epecting by Techman83 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That the guy had actually been "photo shopped" white, rather then just a different person!

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i cat
    Damn, my RAM is full of cats. MEOW!!
  4. This happens all the time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

  5. Just like MSNBC: changing black people to white by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They changed a black guy into a white guy, but they used cropping.
    A black man took a gun to an anti-Obamacare rally. MSNBC showed his picture, or at least a picture of his shirt and gun (no hands or head), claimed it was a white guy and that he was motivated by racism.

    Link here: Instapundit and Afterburner video

  6. How offensive by sheehaje · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find this very rude and discriminatory. How do we know this guy wasn't Gimped?

  7. That's nothing... by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    You should see the real original picture before MS photoshopped in those two non-Busey guys.

    (Yes, stolen from reddit.)

    --
    [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
  8. What about the Asian guy? by bahamlabs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If they Photoshopped in a white guy over the black guy, what about the Asian guy? I mean, how likely are you to see a Korean guy walking the streets of Poland? ( Or maybe I just don't know the streets of Poland).

    --
    --Bahamlabs
  9. Re:Dark Tan? by mhlo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft Poland doesn't like black people.

  10. Re:romney? by bendodge · · Score: 4, Funny

    Notice that they fixed it so hastily they forgot to extend the orange bar for the text like they did the first time around.

    --
    The government can't save you.
  11. Knowing how PC the US is these days... by davevr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... I wouldn't be surprised if the photo was originally was white and the US side photoshopped in a black guy.

  12. Proper Use of Photoshop Trademark by HomerJ · · Score: 5, Funny

    Trademarks help protect corporate and product identity, and Photoshop is one of Adobe's most valuable trademarks. By following the below guidelines, you can help Adobe protect the Photoshop brand name.

    The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form. The following examples illustrate these rules:

    Trademarks are not verbs.

    CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
    INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.

    Trademarks are not nouns.

    CORRECT: The image pokes fun at the Senator.
    INCORRECT: The photoshop pokes fun at the Senator.

    Always capitalize and use trademarks in their correct form.

    CORRECT: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software.
    INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.
    INCORRECT: The image was Photoshopped.
    INCORRECT: The image was Adobe® Photoshopped.

    Trademarks must never be used as slang terms.

    CORRECT: Those who use Adobe® Photoshop® software to manipulate images as a hobby see their work as an art form.
    INCORRECT: A photoshopper sees his hobby as an art form. INCORRECT: My hobby is photoshopping.

    Trademarks must never be used in possessive form.

    CORRECT: The new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software are impressive.
    INCORRECT: Photoshop's features are impressive.

    Trademarks are proper adjectives and should be followed by the generic terms they describe.

    CORRECT: The image was manipulated using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
    INCORRECT: The image was manipulated using Photoshop.

    Trademarks must never be abbreviated.

    CORRECT: Take a look at the new features in Adobe® Photoshop® software.
    INCORRECT: Take a look at the new features in PS.

    The trademark owner should be identified whenever possible.

    Adobe and Photoshop are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

  13. Re:Dark Tan? by JWSmythe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    or to paraphrase, "market to your demographic". If our customer base is white, show white people in the advertising.

    I've noticed that billboards in black neighbors show blacks. In Hispanic neighborhoods, they show Hispanics. etc, etc, etc.

    This was just a poor attempt at getting something out the door to fit the job, rather than doing another shoot with fresh models.

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  14. Modded Funny but not a Joke by ChienAndalu · · Score: 4, Informative

    just to clarify that they aren't kidding

  15. Re:Dark Tan? by hh4m · · Score: 5, Informative

    they fixed it... http://www.microsoft.com/poland/businessproductivity/default.mspx lol

  16. I'm sorry, but you are wrong. by kklein · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Um, no.

    I am a white American living in Japan. I've been here about 10 years. People say racist things to me all the time. No, they don't mean any offense (usually), but that doesn't mean that I don't get offended. But I didn't used to.

    When I first got here, little comments like "Oh! You can use chopsticks!" and "Wow, you can write kanji just like a Japanese person!" and "everyone move over; Klein needs space" (even though I am a very little guy), I thought it was quaint.

    Now when those comments are made, it makes me feel excluded. As if I can never be treated normally, just because of my brown hair and blue eyes. The novelty has worn off.

    A woman complemented me on my amazing Japanese a few months ago when I used a word I literally learned in my first semester of Japanese study. It bummed me out the rest of the day.

    Then there's the "special" treatment you get from cops. And drunks.

    Maybe at one point I thought minorities in the US were being oversensitive, but I think that after 10 years, I finally get it. Finding hateful racist people is getting harder every day, thank god, but when you're a minority, everything is just a little racist. You're treated differently, and it doesn't have anything to do with how you act or what you can or can't do. It just comes down to your physical attributes, and you can't change those. It just gets... tiring.

    But I have it better than minorities in the US or Canada or wherever. This is not my home country. If I ever get totally sick of it (and I'll be honest, there are some things happening these days that are really making me question if it's worth being here--the cops' treatment is getting more special by the day), I can go home to the US where I'll be just another regular white guy. But a regular black guy in the US can't go anywhere. It's his home, and his life is one of being treated differently every single day. I understand why some people get touchy. I'm getting touchy, and I don't have it anywhere near as bad as black people in the US.

    So there's the perspective of a white guy who has figured it out without any brainwashing.

    Watch your mouth, people. It sucks when the main thing people remember about you is your race.

    1. Re:I'm sorry, but you are wrong. by quenda · · Score: 5, Funny

      A woman complemented me on my amazing Japanese

      Thats nothing. An American complimented me on my English after I told her I was from Australia. Toughen up!

  17. Re:Dark Tan? - Long hair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/7308/microsoftlocalisation.jpg

  18. Re:Dark Tan? by dajak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think the issue is whether you are able to connect to a black man. The picture for a Pole just screams "foreign", since the picture is nonrepresentative for a Polish office setting, just like a picture of for instance a family in an American style kitchen wouldn't communicate "family" but again "foreign". To get the feeling you are trying to communicate across you need to localize.

  19. Re:Dark Tan? by kju · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...and they failed! Apparently they were in such a hurry that they now forgot to enlarge the orange box behind the text (as they did with the modified picture).

    I wonder if nobody noticed that it looks totally awful.

  20. Re:Dark Tan? by Errtu76 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's not necessarily true. In Central Europe, nationalism is alive and well (actually increasing due to the perceived cultural threat from the EU), and a picture with three different skin colors for three people will not be interpreted as affirmative action, but unwanted external cultural influence.

    Particularly the black guy, as you don't expect to see black people every day.

    In Hungary, at least, the original picture would cause outrage from the far-right and a measurable decrease in sales.

    In Holland we could not care less. Outrage over a picture like this? People in Hungary should get out more often. And i don't think that sales would suddenly drop because of this. The people who are dumb enough to get offended by this usually aren't the ones that make decisions that cause companies to buy the product or not.

  21. Re:Dark Tan? by lawpoop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Outrage over a picture like this? People in Hungary should get out more often.

    Well, that's kind of the point. You walk outside in Poland, and you don't see any black people.

    What would be the reaction if this were marketed in Europe, and all three people were Asian? "Is this a Japanese board room?" Or if all three people were very dark-skinned black: "Where's this taking place? Kenya?" It's sort of the same thing.

    --
    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
    -- Pablo Picasso
  22. Re:Dark Tan? by Arrawa · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually we would care. There's no office in the Netherlands where the employees are this clean-cut and well dressed :-)

  23. Re:Dark Tan? by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The original showed an Asian guy, a black guy and a white woman. How tediously politically correct. Also completely unrealistic for Poland. (Is it even realistic for the US?)

    I'm reminded of the original Mission Impossible series in the 60s. One agent, Barney, was black. He often was sent "undercover" to various (fictional) "Eastern Bloc" countries, and no one noticed, despite him being the only black guy in the whole city (well, we never saw any others).

    Which is why it was called Mission Impossible.

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  24. Re:Dark Tan? by skorch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The original showed an Asian guy, a black guy and a white woman. How tediously politically correct. Also completely unrealistic for Poland. (Is it even realistic for the US?)

    Is it even realistic for the US? Are you serious? I'm a black guy born on the African continent sitting in an office with a white woman and a jewish guy. In the office right next to mine there's an asian woman and a guy from the UK. Just walking down the hall yields people from every ethnicity. Sure there are obvious majorities and minorities, but it's almost impossible to snap a candid photo of this office and not have a pretty colorful palette of skin-tones. I'm not exactly a fan of political correctness, but I think this recent anti-PC movement smacks of a type of reactionary bigotry I'm even less comfortable with (probably because it always seems to be coming from the same 'demographic' of people).

    The issue isn't that they felt having white guys in their ad would be more appropriate for their intended audience, the issue is that they whitewashed a black guy out of an existing image (poorly), suggesting that the black guy would be unacceptable (but the asian and woman were fine?). If they found the orriginal image inappropriate, then find, buy, or cast and shoot another photo that more suits your demographic. Slapping a black guy in white face is just stupid (look at the results), and I can't see how it's not insulting, if to no one else but your intended audience; suggesting they can't handle the sight of a black guy.

  25. Reminds me of a Polish joke by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    A polish man finds a lantern laying on the ground.
    He takes it home and while cleaning it a genie appears.
    The Genie says:
    "For freeing me from the lantern, I shall grant you three wishes."
    The polish man thinks for a second and says "I wish for a mongol invasion of Poland, please."
    The Genie grants him his wish, the mongols invade, and then leave.
    The Genie says "Name your second wish."
    The man thinks for a moment and says "I wish for a mongol invasion of Poland, please."
    The Genie looks at bit puzzled, but grants him his wish.
    The Mongol invade, and then leave.
    "Now name you third wish"
    The man thinks for a bit and says "I wish for a mongol invasion of Poland, please."
    The confused Genie says "I'll grant you your wish, but would you tell me why you keep wishing for this?"
    The polish man says "Sure, each time the mongols invade Poland they have to go through Russia twice."

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect