Microsoft Poland Photoshops Black Guy To White One

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.

Comments

Even Stranger......

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Even Stranger......

[yoyhed]

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".

Re:Even Stranger......

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Even Stranger......

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

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.

Re:Even Stranger......

[darkonc]

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.

Re:Even Stranger......

[Sebilrazen]

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.)

Know your market.

[palegray.net]

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.

Re:Know your market.

[MrKaos]

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?

Re:Know your market.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Know your market.

[yoyhed]

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.

Re:Know your market.

[AHuxley]

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.

Re:Know your market.

[lennier]

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!"

Re:Know your market.

[CharlyFoxtrot]

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)

Re:Know your market.

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Know your market.

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Re:Know your market.

[ciderVisor]

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.

Re:Know your market.

[VJ42]

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.

Just like MSNBC: changing black people to white

[Anonymous Coward]

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

How offensive

[sheehaje]

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

Re:Dark Tan?

[mhlo]

Microsoft Poland doesn't like black people.

Proper Use of Photoshop Trademark

[HomerJ]

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.

Re:Dark Tan?

[JWSmythe]

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.

Re:Dark Tan?

[hh4m]

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

I'm sorry, but you are wrong.

[kklein]

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.

Re:I'm sorry, but you are wrong.

[quenda]

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!

Re:Dark Tan? - Long hair?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Dark Tan?

[lawpoop]

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.

Re:Dark Tan?

[skorch]

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.