Microsoft in Web photo racism row Click on link if you would like to read an article about this.
So someone at Microsoft decided that a black man in an advertisement directed at Polish consumers is not a good idea. Or perhaps I should say "a black man's head," since his hands were fine.
If this had happened in the United States, I think it's probably more likely that the "photoshopping" would have occurred in the opposite direction--a white guy would have been replaced by a black guy. "We can't have a photo without at least one woman and one person of color, afterall." Given that this was directed at Polish consumers, however, I have to imagine that someone made a calculation about how much "color" would be acceptable to that very white population. I spent two months in Poland and it is clearly the "whitest" locale that I've ever visited--even whiter than the BJC during THON. (Can't we do something about that, by the way.)
Here's another way to think about this. Companies shift their advertising to appeal to different markets all the time. An ad for buses in San Francisco might have an Asian woman, for example, while the exact same advertisement for Memphis or Miami buses would replace the model with a black woman in Memphis and an Hispanic woman in Miami. Is that racist? Someone decided that a black person will be less appealing to Polish consumers. Would you use photos of straight couples in your advertisements in LGBT magazines? Sometimes, no doubt, but you'd more often opt for a gay or lesbian scene.
At the heart of the Microsoft issue is that they cut out the black man's head and replaced "it" with one from a straight up white guy. It just feels raw. Maybe the event got press simply because the manipulation that drives the advertising dimension of marketing was exposed for what it is...manipulation. And maybe it's because when companies shift the "cultural inflections" in their ads, it feels right. But when they do the same thing with "race" it comes across as disingenuine. And maybe, just maybe, all of those people sitting around the table in that photo represent one single culture -- corporate culture. To tell one of them that he has to "relinquish his seat at the table because of his race" is...well...racist. Isn't that what racism is?
But really, don't accept my interpretation of this Microsoft debacle. What do you think?
462 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 462 of 462I think that if a consumer was making an add to target a certain population then they should freely be a loud to advertise with whatever racial group they want. It is their money they are spending and they obviously know what would appeal to people more than others. I think that it really sucks that they made that kind of mistake and got busted on it, but I do not think that they intended to cause any harm or stir up any type of argument. I think that they just knew what kind of things certain people would want to see when it came to their product. I do not see anything wrong with that. I think that over time race is becoming less and less of an issue. Our president if of color and that’s something that has never happened before so obviously things are changing. Now that I was thinking about ads and race here is a thought I came up with. At Wal-Mart there is the aisle that has all the shampoos for adults, teens and young kids. In that aisle there is a shampoo by Pantene and I am not sure what it is called but the bottle is brown and it says basically that it’s for black people. Now doesn’t that exclude white people? I guess it kind of does but we do not really take an offense to it, well at least I do not, and I cannot imagine it really bothering any other white person. It is what it is I guess. It does not stop there. In another aisle there is a section specifically JUST for black people and their hair. All these kinds of oils and special taming things that being white I have no idea really what they do or what makes them so special, but like I said, whatever. Some of the bottles are even brown, like there is a brown bottle of Pantene ProV and it sticks out like a sore thumb by all the white bottles. If I were black I would probably find that offending. Now I am pretty sure that there is no special section for me and my hair. Certain people need and want certain things. Microsoft was only considering what would appeal to their customers over all just trying to please them so they can make their money, which is fine by me. It is not Microsoft’s fault that certain parts of the world are just more white or black or Latino or whatever. It is just really unfortunate that that photo shipping mistake was found because now it just makes them look bad almost like they were trying to cover something up which makes them look guilty of something but really, they are just doing their jobs.
The decisions made by Microsoft in this advertisement may seem to be racist, but instead they are simply a result of our modern media. Advertising and marketing has become a huge field and incredibly important since technology has allowed the mass distribution of information. Companies use methods like this in their advertising regularly. Although this example does appear to be racist, Microsoft was simply focusing on a different demographic in a different market. So they altered their advertisement in order to better conform to the intended audience. Basically Microsoft was just “catering to the costumer”, so the advertisement would be subtle and pleasing to the subconscious as opposed to a “shock to the conscious”. Had they not altered the advertisement it might have been abnormal and unpleasing for the viewer. Although I have to say that had this advertisement not been changed, I do not think it would have been inappropriate.
One reason this advertisement is inappropriate is because the “Black guy’s head” was just crudely cut and replaced. If this advertisement was intended for a huge market, such as the entire country of Poland, then why not do a little better job of altering the add? They could have at least changed his hands as well or replace him completely so their intentions were not so blatantly obvious. I do not think this is an example of racism but I can see why it could be interpreted that way. A black man was replaced with a white man, which simply adds to the tension built up throughout our history. Even the fact that the modifications to the advertisement were so crude and blatant can be seen as racist, but I do not think that was case. Not all countries in the world are as racially diverse as the United States. Remember that we are the “Melting Pot” of the world. So it is clear that some countries or places in the world consist of different variations of races that are specifically catered too.
Even though I do not think this advertisement is racist, I hate that companies even have to use methods like this in our modern world. Especially in the United States, since again we are supposed to be the “melting pot”. But this type of marketing happens frequently in the United States as pointed out in Sam’s Blog. The reason the first advertisement was acceptable here in the United States was because it included a white woman, an Asian man, and a black man. However had the second been released in the United States, it could have been seen as being racist. Hopefully one day advertisements like this will be appropriate universally instead of needing to be changed.
Often times with the media and with advertisements there are target audiences the company is trying to reach. So I understand the reasoning behind the Polish replacing the African American male’s head; with someone else that would attract more of the audience they were trying to reach. Although I understand, I do not agree with the action because it is a form of racism. This is racism in the fact that the African American’s man head apparently was not good enough for the company to use for their advertisement. Sometimes companies make advertisements for particular audiences, but the fact that it was already made, and then changed, is very offensive.
Although racism in American hasn’t dissolved, and still is a problem. Living in America racism isn’t seen as often, anymore. Since there are programs and implementations such as EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and Affirmative Action, now some of the racists things that went on in America have decreased. So seeing such blatant racism in the media is shocking to me.
The media in America in the past few years has done a little better to show more people of color in advertisements. Being that America is such a diverse place seeing different races in the media is common now. With advertisements here, there is more of variety of people to try to attract with advertisement. I’m sure in Poland it is not as diverse as it is here, so having advertisements solely with their people in them is common.
There is nothing that can really be done to punish the Polish for changing the advertisement. But I believe the head of Microsoft should make a statement to the Polish about their actions. May be the actions of the Polish did not have any ill intent, when they changed the photo, it may have been just for the audience they were trying to reach. But some kind of action should be taking to prevent future incidence like this from occurring.
On the campus of The Pennsylvania State University there are things put in place to prevent racism/discrimination. This is a big school with over 40,000 students with all types of nationalities, races, and cultures. Because of this things have been put into place to prevent racism or any kind of negativity or discrimination against anyone who is different. In dorms there are Prejudice Free Zones signs all around, to show that we may be different but we must all respect each others differences. This may be impossible for a country like Poland, since there isn’t as much diversity, but something can be done so that things like this wont happen again in the future.
. I know that racism and racist things will never end, because that’s the way society is. But I would like for companies such as Microsoft try to end and stop this things from happening. America has dealt with racism and found ways to control them and stop them from happening. It is hard to control racism all around the world, but because Microsoft is an American company they should make sure this does not happen again.
After reading the article about the photo shop that Microsoft did I was disgusted. First of all what’s up with everything being black, white or Asian. I am Hispanic and I really get annoyed with commercials like this because there will always be an ethnic group that gets left out.
Now, as far as changing the image from a black man to a white man, that is straight up racist. If the Polish population is predominantly white then why was the Asian man left in the picture? I really laugh and enjoy reading how people try to justify this issue so they don’t look like the “bad guy” if Microsoft themselves are saying sorry, then we all already know that is it a problem. The fact that a blogger had the guts to make such an ignorant comment made him/her look even more racist. I mean seriously this person is going to sit there any say that the white head and the black hand symbolizes interracial harmony! That is ridiculous. If that’s so true then why couldn’t the white guy have black hands? Why couldn’t it be a black guy with white hands? Pure ignorance in my opinion!
As for people in Poland, I can understand that their country is mostly white but honestly I believe they should open their eyes and see what’s around them. They don’t have to necessarily except it but the will have to live with it. My friend is black and their family went to Poland, who told them that they couldn’t go? Not the Polish people. I know that we live with so much hate and racism in the world but I am one to wear my Latin skin color proudly and I will make it known that I can and will travel where I want to, even if it mean forcing people to like me.
I’m seriously so over people judging and being racist. I sometimes think what if we didn’t have skin, we would not be who we are there would be no beauty, no character, just muscle and bones. Everyone would look the same and the world would have no idea what it feels to be different. Is this what we need, to take off our skin to prove that we eat, sleep, and breath just like everyone else? It’s sad. Its feels so right in my head to say that I don’t care about what color a person is, but to try and put that image and that thought in the heads of everyone is something that can’t happen overnight, as sad as that may sound.
In conclusion I believe that the people of Microsoft were really stuck between a wall and a rock. But they have to realize that not everyone in the world can be pleased. And saying sorry is just not enough.
When I first read the article and looked at the difference between the two advertising pictures, I felt this action Microsoft took made non-sense. It appears to me as a joke that the company made rather than a change in method to present the ad differently, but, from the other side of the aspect, I might be able to interpret a why for the intension of Microsoft. For me, there are two perspectives come in mind.
First, I think the change could open many people’s mind to think about this situation, because it does seems like racism. How could a multi-billion worth of a corporation make such obvious and ridiculous mistake and publish it into public? I did not like because this might create a beef upon both races, I mean, who would like to present their race in such way? If I am a black person, I wouldn’t want my race to be presented as a man with Black face and white body, vice versa in the other way around.
But what I rather understand situation like this is: we could perceive it as a good willing. Based off my knowledge, racism often present to me as an over thought complexity, because when a different race present in front of a dominant race of the culture, both sides intend to over judge the other side. So let’s put it in the other way, maybe we can understand it as Microsoft tries to promote the advertisement towards the anti-racism way, because in the picture, it was a man with black head and white body. Can we perceive the bigger picture as we shouldn’t discriminate and we will be better off when we integrate? Also think in this way, besides United State, will other countries try so hard to hide racism? I am a foreigner myself, and my country has globalized cities also, but the problem is, the advertisement always has the same race to be in it, which is the pro-dominant race of my culture. To me, it does not bother me when the company tends to replace the white man with a black man, it is the matter of how much it means to you. If people could just take this kind of situation as the company tries to make it better, there won’t be a problem to be appeared, because the fundamental thought about this is, we were created all equal, and the only reason made us seem not equal is us; we were the one created the complexity, and it is time to change it back to simple and put the world scale back to equivalent, because the more we try to avoid it, the more weight we try to put on one side.
I do not feel that changing the face of the man in the Microsoft commercial is a racist action. I believe that Microsoft’s intentions were not to target race, but to rather to appeal to the selected demographic of their product. It is hypothesized that people are more inclined to buy products endorsed by those who look like them. Therefore, it is not the action of changing the face of the man that is racist, but the attitudes of society that perpetuate the necessity to make said changes in an advertisement. Since the beginning of human civilization, it is inherent to feel more comfortable around similar people. This could stem from defense mechanisms of earlier times to beware of ‘others’. Unfortunately, this defense mechanism is no longer useful and has in fact become harmful in modern society, creating this issue. The Polish people that Microsoft is targeting have little contact with black people, making it harder to relate to the product. Microsoft was simply making a business move best suitable to their goals. So, why has this ad become an issue of race? I do not feel that the man was excluded in a derogatory or demeaning way, but plainly because he was not useful in selling the product. Would it be a logistical move to include a black woman in an ad for a product aimed at white women? Or, as professor Richards proposed, to use “photos of straight couples in your advertisements in LGBT magazines”?
I agree with Sam in that I feel that this situation, and namely, this ad, is a reflection of corporate culture. Not corporate culture in the sense of who is represented, but the culture to do whatever is necessary to make profit and be successful. That is why I think that the bigger issue centers on removing the need to tailor ads to certain demographics. I think the answer to the debate raised through the Microsoft ad situation is to erase the lines separating one “race” from another. Why is it that we STILL are wary of those who are different even when we know that we are intrinsically the same? As a society, we should be able to sell and advertise products without needing to change the faces and features of those chosen to sell the products. However, to erase the lines and distinctions that have become so engrained in every corner of human society is a seemingly impossible task. Therefore, while it may seem ‘raw’ to replace parts of humans in advertisements, I would dare to say that it is not the issue of race we should be concerned with, but rather the need to manipulate and ‘play’ society and those used in advertisements just to become more successful is a capital sort of way.
This blog poses an interesting question. Is adapting to fit your market, or making those people comprising your market feel more ‘comfortable’ with what they are seeing, racist? I think the first problem with this is that it is so conscious. Marketers are plainly assuming that a person seeing a picture of two people of different races would feel more ‘comfortable’ with the person that looks like them. Is this really true? Or is this just what someone, more generally the media, is telling people? Media is a very useful and detrimental tool in this way, and even am I unsure as to the true workings of it. What I do know is that through enculturation, people learn what they see and what they are told. I think by using a person of a certain race instead of another is good for corporations because people already think they’re more comfortable with people of their own race. Thus, they make money because consumers can relate more to a product or service and are thus more likely to go buy/use that product or service. It is bad because it perpetuates these beliefs in people. If, on the other hand, every commercial aired in the United States featured only people of different races, it would, even if just in a tiny, imperceptible way, change the views and perceptions of many people. At the very least, this advertisement just demonstrates what a hold that racial perception has over us. If someone is saying that this person is better for something than another JUST because of how they look, there is something wrong.
My next question is why can’t people get past this? I understand it is engrained in us, in the US at least, from a very early age, but why isn’t someone somewhere taking a step to change things. There is obviously a problem with racial perception evidenced in all sorts of ways – hate crimes, slavery, and the KKK just to name a few. We are all the same! Like Sam said in class, the inherent, genetic make up of all of us is something like 99.7% the same. Yet that 0.3% difference has caused some major things to happen, and shaped the world as we know it today. I understand that as very visual animals we are incredibly stimulated by what we see, but if you think about it, the only reason why the word ‘race’ even exists is because of a) melanin and the sun and b) different surfaces reflect different wave lengths (which create color). It seems sillier and sillier the more I think about it.
The catcher is that it is hard to break this mold. No one, including myself, has not seen a person of a different race and made judgments about who they are, how they will act, or how they will speak. In truth, I can’t stand on a soap box and preach because I am severely guilty of racial discrimination. The key is to become informed and really think about how you view other people. Hopefully then a change will come. Just as the media is consciously trying to tell us what makes us more comfortable, I think we should all consciously try to question what we are being told and how we think about people.
First off, who wrote this article because from my vocabulary I thought “apologise” was spelled “apologize. Secondly, I took great offense to this advertisement immediately after I seen the changes that Microsoft did. Personally I don’t understand why they couldn’t just keep the black male for the advertisement. And then to not change the color of the hand seems very careless, and ultimately, I view this action as a sign of disrespect to African Americans. When I see the picture, numerous thoughts begin to travel through my mind as I try to come to some type of conclusion of what Microsoft’s intent was when they altered the males skin color in the advertisement. My personal feeling about the advertisement is that black people are not good enough to represent Microsoft’s company. Why would someone want to be an employee at a company where you are not considered to be equal to your peers in the workplace, and you’re inferior to them if you aren’t Caucasian. Overall I’m just disappointed because I’m a user of Microsoft, and I’m black at that. Now I want to uninstall all my Microsoft software, send it back to their company with a nice note attached to it saying “Kiss my a$$, I’m black and I’m proud”, and face the repercussions later on. But it just surprises me that companies such as Microsoft would have the gumption to post a picture of the initial advertisement, and then turn around and show the altered picture, and expect African Americans to accept it, and not take any offense to the picture. I believe they should write a statement explaining their stance on the situation, and why they chose to change the race. I’d like to see if they can justify themselves. Also, what do polish people have to say about this? How do they perceive blacks in the world, and how they complete their duties in the workplace? What actually put the nail in the coffin for me was that if they change the color of a man’s face , why didn’t they change the color of his hand to match the rest of his body? There are so many issues I have with this photo that it would be impossible for me to ramble on about all of them without writing a novel. The article states that a blogger said "The white head and black hand actually symbolise interracial harmony. It is supposed to show that a person can be white and black, old and young at the same time.” If this was actual case then why didn’t Microsoft’s Polish partners state that in the first place? This to me is blatant racism, and it cannot be justified.
Ok, so maybe I am a terrible person, but I haven’t gone to the BJC during THON, so I didn’t realize it was such a predominantly white event. In terms of why they got rid of the black guy and the “whiteness” of Poland, a few things come to mind. The people at the advertising companies could have arbitrarily chosen to photoshop the black guy, because he was easiest to do it to. There also may have been time constraints that caused them to do a quick fix. Are Polish people racist? Do they shun people of color in their society? It would be interesting to know that. So many factors, such as a combination of the ones I just mentioned, could have gone into the change and made it what it was. The photoshopping was shoddy and blatantly obvious on the blurry photo on this blog, so how clear would it have been on a TV in Poland?
I always notice the multicultural themes of advertising these days. It seems obvious to me. In my case though, I feel like I can look past who is in the ad and listen to what they are saying about the product. I like to think I am above the manipulation and persuasive tactics. I agree that Ad companies are shameless in trying to play to every possible audience, through every possible angle and scheme, however clever or obvious. Appealing to cultural sensibilities is just one more tool they use. Sex sells too, and a lot of people see that as morally and socially unacceptable. Placing a black guy in an ad that is going to be shown in the northeast, or a Hispanic guy in an ad shown in the southwest, to sell a product is probably a no-brainer, basic decision for ad companies and corporations. They figure it doesn’t matter, that they are being racist, because they want to show a “customer” just like their market base having a great experience with, quite literally, any and every product they want to sell.
The corporate use racism and manipulation to get a product sold, is aggravating to spot. There isn’t really anything that I can do about it, except comment on it to my friends and spark discussion. I have done it a few times, and we spend a good 20 minutes or so bashing the corporate world and how advertising is shameless. And then we go out and buy new clothes, new shoes, and new gadgets. The corporations and ad companies are doing something right. If it takes Soc 119 for us to notice, then we got problems. We watch so much TV, that we don’t notice details anymore. Oh they replaced that black guy with a white guy? Heck I didn’t notice… Using multicultural casts and music and themes, manipulating them, has been happening for a long while. It would be great if it was gone.
My original thought after reading this blog was ‘Oh’. My thought at the moment is still the same. This is nothing but audience targeting from Microsoft. I don’t blame them for photoshopping a man to get maximum revenue from their customers. I wouldn’t expect them to put a black man in an all white culture just as I wouldn’t expect them to put a Muslim guy in an Israel commercial. I believe that small things like this always gets blown out of proportion for no real reason. I would have done the same if it meant that my company would get a maximal return for a minor change.
This blog/article does though bring up the issue of race. The issue that race isn’t the same in every part of the world. You will see yellow people in China, White people in Europe, Black people in Africa, Brown people in Southeast Asia and so on. Comparing your advertisement to the majority audience of your product is not racial profiling. It is called smart advertising. To me, racism is when you hate on a group of people for a reason related solely to their skin color. There is no hatred going on in this article or advertisement.
The real issue here is that people took this ‘problem’ seriously. This shouldn’t even count as a mistake and it has no reason to be investigated. The person who came up with this brilliant idea should actually be rewarded for good business thinking. I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t even thinking in a racial way and as usual the smallest things are blown out of proportion by people who love to cause senseless drama. The man who came up with the idea probably had a strong background with Polish culture which lead to him even proposing it in the first place.
The only audience who would deem this racist is an audience who themselves is racist. I do blame the Microsoft company though for their poor photoshop skills. For a company that brings in billions in revenue, you would at least expect them to not make the simplest of photoshop mistakes.
From a personal experience, I have actually visited Poland and have interacted with their culture. Poland is a pretty racist place. I wasn’t looked at or treated the same solely due to my skin color. My friend who is full-blooded Ukraine was treated better and that’s strange since Polish people hate UA people. So that actually favors the idea of taking away the black man and replacing him with a white man. If they left a black man, many Polish people would most likely not buy Microsoft merchandise and Apple would prevail in Poland.
After reading this article several times, I think it is pretty obvious and blatant that this ad is far from politically correct and is utterly racist. Although an argument can be brought up that in Poland the ad would appeal to the predominately white society, that in and of itself proves that certain people/places have not yet moved from racist thoughts. In learning about this occurrence, Microsoft is promoting racism. Who is to say that a white person would feel more comfortable or more inclined to purchase Microsoft if a black man is in the picture? The most baffling question raised is: If the man’s head were to be altered or changed then why not just replace him with a white male in the first place?
Companies are always going to look out for themselves and what is in their best interest, but at what cost? Such a large corporation, Microsoft, should be attempting to tap into the global market by promoting diversity in their photos. I don’t think any sort of issue would have been raised if the ad simply had white people in the picture because that is quite common in today’s world. Even in a country such as Poland, It would have been a common advertisement. The fact that a man’s face had to be altered either tells me Microsoft is racist or Microsoft feels Polish people are racist. I wish I could even try justifying this by claiming whoever asked for this made a mistake but clearly an individual, or corporation for the matter, went out of their way to alter the image.
The slogan in the picture is the completely goes against the message that was actually sent. The slogan is as follows: empower your people. I feel as if Microsoft is saying empower a white individual. I feel like black people must not be as capable as a white people, are not as accepted as white people, or are simply not marketable. Why wouldn’t they be marketable? This totally brings us back to this race notion. I don’t quite understand how this can be justified. I have studied marketing strategies, target audiences, the power of persuasion, and have even interned at an advertising agency. Nowhere in any of my learning experiences did I learn that a person of color should be left out of major corporation’s advertising. I have yet to get over this because it is so shocking. I cannot fathom how Microsoft could do such a thing. A white man could have just been in the photo. The fact that they had to go out of their way proves to me that they are racist or some sort of racism is being displayed. I hope they have taken steps to remedy this but as for right now I feel offended.
As a political science and business major I had two quite opposite reactions to the story of the two different ads. As a business student my focus is on the company and which ways would best further the interest of the company. In this context it is important to look at Microsoft as a company trying to reach new customers. The ad is a classic ad which is supposed to create some kind of connection between the product and the buyer. This happens by showing a situation that the customer can relate to, in this case they are showing a normal situation, which many businessmen/women can relate to. Though this view Microsoft have every right to change the ad, so it matches the group which they are trying to reach. If the ad is meant to make Polish people relate to the product, it makes sense to show a situation which they are more accustomed to. It is in no way racist to direct your advertisement towards a specific group, in the same way that it would not be wrong to direct an ad for diapers towards women with children and not men with children because the women are most likely to be the customer. The reason why this ad has caused stir is not the fact that they have an ad in Poland which only features white guys it is because of the remarkably poor job at creating the ad. There would not have been any problem with just making an ad with white people just as we aren’t offended by ads from Japanese companies in the US featuring only white guys. However it is sad that people actually look at the color of peoples skin but the truth is that what the ad tries to do is to get you to think that this product will actually make your life better. By showing someone who looks like you it is easier for your mind to make these associations. It is sad that we don’t just see the man as a human being like ourselves but instead look at the way the person looks. We are all human beings but that is unfortunately not how our mind works. Whether this is because of generations of indoctrination or because of the actual way our mind works, I don’t know. However from a marketing point of view it is completely understandable and acceptable. The only problem I have with the ad is shockingly poor execution from the Microsoft marketing group. It is a ridiculous error considering the wages the marketing people at Microsoft probably receive. I think that it would be hypocritical to say that there was anything wrong with what Microsoft when it is something we see every day, only done more discretely.
Although this particular example of political correctness (or in this case, correcting political correctness) in advertising was terribly botched, Microsoft's thinking makes sense to me. The United States may have one of the most diverse racial mixes in the world, so ads that appeal to every race are logical. What benefits would Microsoft reap from diversifying ads directed at a country with an almost completely white population? If the idea of having several races represented in the ad is to appeal to everyone, it is a moot point if “everyone” is white. But Poland's lack of diversity does not excuse the shockingly crappy handling of the change in the ad. Not only does the change look obviously Photoshopped, and by an amateur no less, but not changing the black man's hand is pure laziness. With Microsoft's level of success, one would think that only the most skilled professionals would work on their advertising. Microsoft is not at fault for the idea of changing the ad. They are only at fault for making their aims obvious. Nobody would make a big deal out of either version of the advertisement if the change had not been practically telegraphed to anyone with a keen eye. It is doubtful that Microsoft would have lost many Polish customers if the black man remained in the ad, but the one and only goal of advertising is to bring in customers in the most effective way possible. Frankly, most people are more prone to buying things that they see are used most by their own race. If it is true that the vast majority of people living in Poland are white, then a photo of a meeting between people of several different races would seem unfamiliar and possibly off-putting. Even more off-putting, though, is a careless job of fixing an ad. Microsoft has the money, and surely the advertising department, to take another photograph without any unwanted elements. The botch makes Microsoft seem shallow. One thing that confuses me is why the black man was removed but the Oriental man remained. Is a black man more disorienting to a mostly-white population than an Asian man? Also, if the ad department only wanted to switch out one of the people, wouldn't a white man's head fit more smoothly on the lighter-skinned Asian's body? At least, if they only put the white head on the Asian's body, the hand would not be a dead giveaway of digital manipulation. Overall, Microsoft's mistake is one that should not have been made by such a high-ranking company, but an uproar seems unnecessary. Racial targeting in ads has been going on for years, and people that are just now realizing this just haven't been looking carefully..
I personally wouldn't go straight to calling this racism. It isn't offensive nor does it produce any sort of negative feeling. I mean, the popluation of white people in Poland is very abundant, having a black person on a Microsoft ad there looks out of place. If you think about it this way, a white person on an ad in Africa, would also look out of place. When you see people of different races in an ad, they have been chosen to represent the demographic that it is aimed for. I'll bet this wouldn't have been a big deal if they replaced an asian with a white person or vice versa. Out of all the races, it seems black people are the group that takes racism the most serious. I'd say Microsoft made a mistake by photoshopping a black man with a white man and leaving the black hands on the white man. Of course, if the ad had originally been with a white man in it, no one would be overreacting. This was done strictly to sell a product, not out of spite, hate or anger. Usually, this type of situation is someone trying achieve a marketing objective or reach out to a certain audience. It can seem indifferent or careless, depending on your point of view, but its very doubtful that the person who did this intentionally got rid of the black person in the picture so that blacks will be under-represented in Microsoft's advertisements. Most people are not out to get us, and not assuming the worst in people can often get us a lot further than to bring them into compliance. This subject is so sensitive, and because of this, it causes more tension between races. Microsoft is a company composed of tens of thousands of employees in many different locations, speaking many different languages in very different societies. We have state laws which dictate that certain classes, such as race, creed, religion, age, sex, etc., can not be used to discriminate when choosing a candidate to hire, yet the affirmative at the Federal level dictate that companies maintain the shares based on race. This builds people in America to think they should be careful when hiring a minority candidate, but not a white candidate. Diversity isn't about artificially creating quotas to me some authorization. Rather, it is about making an effort to completely go about and recruit the candidate who fits the bill. There are companies and organizations who go about it in the proper way, and other ones who take the easy way out and use the quote system, which is bad for all involved. Microsoft is just trying to do what a good company would do, that is, make money while doing so as a good corporate citizen.
After getting over the comedic value of this piece of news, I started analyzing it with a critical eye and I realized that it is not really something we need to get overly offended about. Microsoft was just attempting to efficiently run business by “streamlining certain aspects of its marketing strategy.”(Read
“photoshopping”) . Too bad it was in the age of the internet, an age when information travels so fast that a 45 second YouTube clip can be viewed by millions of people around the world within a time span of 2 hours. Of course, we all understand that in order to sell products to their target consumers, companies have to appeal the consumers via the use of familiar faces in advertisements. I completely agree with that point in the original blog. That seems to be a fundamental of marketing.
One can in no way make this about blatant racism. What this incident comes down to is simply irresponsible and clumsy decision-making by the person in charge of this operation. It is possible that Microsoft was trying to cut down on costs. There’s no use speculating who or what caused this faux pas but it happened.
One thing from the graphic that stuck out for me, though, was the decision to leave the Asian man in the photo. I assumed that maybe there is a sizable Asian population in Poland; I was about to give Microsoft credit for that thoughtful abstention from photoshopping. Upon further investigation, I realized that there are barely any Asians in Poland. So what does this mean? Does that mean that it was just another careless error by that much-ridiculed Photoshop wizard? Or does that reflect Polish attitudes? I have no idea about the extent of racism in current-day Poland. However, if one assumes that companies cater ads to their customers’ expectations, and then one notices the specific removal of the African man from the photo, leaving the Asian man as is, it seems to imply that Poles are more tolerant of Asians than Africans. I don’t mean to insult any Poles reading this, but I was simply wondering if that might be possible.
My overall assessment of this situation remains the same as most of my peers. I believe that Microsoft unluckily got caught pulling a dirty trick that many other international corporations pull all the time. Microsoft’s leadership probably needs to learn that they are living in the age of the internet. Companies could have played these tricks 20 years ago and nobody would have even noticed. Word of advice to multinational companies: invest a few hundred dollars extra in photo-shoots and advertisement-shoots; shoot them all in an American studio, you’ll be able to get all the ethnicities you’d like to represent; do enough combinations of male/female, Black/White/Asian/Hispanic etc. Just don’t get caught in a blogging storm over an inept Photoshop wizard.
Professor: Dr. Samuel Richards
Soc 119: Section 020
Journal: Political Correctness or Blatant Racism?
The arguments introduced varied and were compelling; however there were flaws within each point of view. Consequently, in composed a theory of my own after reading of the provided material. I narrowed the motives behind this altered, race façade, over publicized photograph down to the basic rules of marketing. As a means of appealing to the dominant people of specific demographics, the company broadens its audience. This switching of faces is not a technique that is neither new nor unfamiliar to society. Adjusting an advertisement for it to be more appeasing to a group allows that specific audience to be able to relate to the commercial ad, which in turn makes them more inclined to purchase that product.
Microsoft being such a renowned, influential company is what makes it an easy victim of scrutiny from the media and a thousand times easier for it to the rational formalities of business to be exaggerated to an extent where the company is embarrassed and defenseless. For instance, I saw an ad in my neighborhood commercialing insurance, which included Black people speaking English. On the contrary, when I went across town and saw the same ad it displayed Hispanic with the caption in Spanish. This area was more so populated by Hispanic families than any other “race”, hence the reason for the billboard to have Hispanics portraying the benefits of obtaining this insurance.
To a degree I believe that whoever or whatever department that changed the head in the picture should have changed the person as a whole, instead of looking over the head as if it is something trivial and constituting the hand as something insignificant therefore not worthy enough to be changed. From a corporation as large as such, the minute and smallest facets of a task are expected to be seen a large part of an enormous project. I do not think that Microsoft should be getting as bombarded and examination as it is. The positive things that this company has done has surpast the negative.
The Microsoft ad in my opinion is very controversial. I understand that when advertising a product it is necessary to gear it toward the consumer even if it means using a particular race in the advertisement. However, the fact that Microsoft replaced the Black mans head with a White mans head makes it look just plain racist. I feel as though we weren’t deemed good enough to be a part of the ad. It honestly did not make sense to change the appearance of the original ad because it represents many races in the business world. It appears that we were once considered for it and was later replaced by what someone thought was “better”. The original ad was a nice balance and displayed diversity showing a variety of races that use Microsoft everyday. The second advertisement was extremely sloppy and carelessly thrown together! They replaced the black mans head but never changed the color of the man’s hand to match with the face. This demonstrates that the whole idea was poorly thought out. It makes it very obvious that the picture was photo shopped. Microsoft just threw a white guy in the mix as if that’s the true representation of the business world. Yes whites may be dominant in the field but there are tons of African Americans, especially males, that are working in the corporate world. I wonder if this is how Microsoft views African Americans and their stance in the corporate world. I’m an African American man and I have purchased plenty of Microsoft products! So why is my race being misrepresented? Advertisements have a strong effect on consumers and how they perceive a particular product and this ad is sending a negative message in the sense that the white man is thought of as being the head of the corporation. The fact that they left the hands black in my eyes symbolizes that we can sometimes put in a lot of work yet another race or a more dominant figure is given all the credit. This is not the first incident in which something like this has happened. For example L’Oreal released an ad with superstar Beyonce in which they photo shopped the picture of her to be at least 4 shades lighter to almost appear white as it lighter skin is better. This should not be the socially acceptable and be thought of as a social norm. Why is it that the perception of the viewer must be distorted in order for someone to get his or her props. In the future Microsoft should be more cautious about the business decisions they make and the affect they will have on the public. The ad that was changed as very offensive and a public apology is in order.
I find myself surprisingly okay with this seemingly controversial pair of advertisements. At first, I was slightly disturbed, particularly by the fact that the same exact body was used for both pictures, leaving only the head to be replaced. It just seems gruesome. As many have said, you would think they would be tasteful enough to at least change the body, or the color of the man’s hand, but I guess they were saving ink. But the real issue at hand is if this is discrimination or just the way the business works (the business of advertising that is.) Unfortunately it’s probably the gray area between the two. Although advertisers claim to inform consumers to keep us up-to-date and educated, I think it is widely accepted that the primary goal of advertising is to sell a product or service. With the selling of products comes the importance of knowing, understanding, and adhering to the target audience. Advertisers respond to what the public, or their consumers, need and want. For example, as many people have referenced, our American society wants to see a diverse group of students on the front of a Penn State brochure because that is what’s ‘equal and fair’ and maybe even trendy these days. So we do just that, we make sure many races are represented, just as Microsoft did their best to use incorporate diversity in their American advertisement. So now comes the crazy part, where professionals chose to change the ad to once again adhere to a certain group of people. If their Polish consumer base is not black, what is the problem with having a black man in their ad? Are they racist against black people? Was Microsoft aware of this and felt they should change it to put viewers at ease? Is Microsoft just adhering to their needs and wants, creating the best possible image to grab their attention and sell their product. It may be racist, in fact it clearly is given that they changed the man in the picture because of the color of his skin. But who’s to say Microsoft is at fault. Why aren’t we blaming the consumers, the society, you and me. We’re the ones that demand, we’re the reason the advertisers do what they do. We want diversity, so they give us diversity, even in its unlikelihood. We want skinny people, so they give us skinny people. Or we want to see people that look like us, so that’s what they give us. The cause/effect here is cyclic and they seem to be interdependent of one another. I don’t know what professionals made this decision or how they thought this would be swept under the rug, but I also don’t think it’s fair to blame the company alone, when you and I are the ones advertisements like this are trying to please.
First of all, Microsoft deserves this backlash because they should have been more careful. If they were going to do something as controversial, and wrong as changing the race of someone in their ad they should have been more careful. By doing something as brainless as forgetting to change the color of the man’s hand makes them deserve all of the backlash they received.
What bothered me most about the real article is that they only mention at the end, almost as if it is an afterthought, that it may have been changed because Poland is predominantly white. This is clearly the reason it was changed. Why else would someone have put an effort into changing it? Also, is it just a coincidence then that it happened on the Polish website?
On one hand, part of me understands why they changed the black man with a white one for Poland, people identify with others of the same race. This is proven just when you look around the classroom; people of the same race are grouped together. When you enter a class at the beginning of a semester and you are nervous, you search the room for someone who looks like you, the same gender and race. This is a normal reaction, but that does not mean it is the right thing to do. People need to leave their comfort zones and end discrimination. Now, for Microsoft, they might think the best choice for their company might be to try to identify with Polish people. Since Poland is a majority white country making everyone in the ad white may have seemed smart, but is it really? I believe that the media and corporate companies need to help push people out of their comfort zones. Clearly, if they think that a black man in an ad is really going to hurt their company then the way people think needs to be changed. This change in the ad might seem somewhat harmless, but it is reinforcing the idea that racism is still strong in the world today.
When reading the real article I literally laughed out loud at the statement made by some bloggers that they think having a black hand and a white head was an attempt to “please all markets”. This is clearly ridiculous; it seems like a half assed attempt to cover up their mistake. I cannot imagine anyone looking at this picture and seeing the black population represented in a black hand, especially if it is attached to a white man’s body. Also, I think by saying it represents interracial harmony is somewhat offensive to the black population because why then, is it the head of the body white. It is like saying white people are in charge, though I might be reading too much into it.
This advertisement for Microsoft does not seem like a question of political correctness or blatant racism to me. Corporate America could give a crap about political correctness, or racism. All corporate America cares about is what is, and what is not going to make money. And if that means making everyone white in a Polish advertisement because the majority of Polish people are white, then so be it. If Poles are deterred from buying a product because the advertisement features a black person (shame on them if this school of thought even exists in the first place), then a business will cater to that. Whatever pacifies people to rake in the dollar.
I am actually kind of shocked that Microsoft decided to make it an all white advertisement to begin with. Being politically correct is a trend, and seems to be becoming the norm, which many accept (as they should). Businesses milk on trendiness and utilize it to sell whatever they possibly can. Thus, it confuses me that they altered the picture in the first place.
What is even more confusing to me, however, is the execution in which this advertisement was altered. Instead of getting a new picture taken with new white models, they just photo shopped the black man’s head! That’s absurd, and disrespectful to the black model in the picture. To me, it just seems safer to keep every race represented. That way less are offended. Furthermore, the media and corporate America have so much influence to begin with that they ought to use their power properly. That is, they should to change people for the better rather than solely being focused on money. This is far too optimistic though. I don’t know whether this is a question of racism or political correctness, however, I do know that this is a business tactic and a reflection of corporate America. The dollar with forever dictate.
Even though I just think it’s all about the money, this situation with Microsoft does make me wonder if this has happened with a lot of other businesses that work internationally. Do they change all of their models based on the country they are selling their product to? If I go to Latin America will I only see Latinos represented in advertisements? Probably. If I go to Africa will I only see Africans in advertisements? Probably. Is the United States the only ones really concerned with political correctness? Perhaps this is so. Perhaps this is because The United States is a Melting Pot consisting of all different races so being politically correct does indeed matter. I think this is an interesting topic to ponder. Now, I need to go to other countries and check out their advertisements!
At first glance, this “advertisement debacle” seemed a bit comical to me; especially seeing that they only replaced the heads of the two actors, keeping the hand positioning the same. After thinking about this ad a bit more in depth, I find it more thought provoking than offensive or even racist. I cannot blame Microsoft for changing the person in the ad, however, I do not think that they should have used the same picture entirely. It does not seem racist to change an ad based on a population difference among nations. It is inevitable that Poland and the United States do not have the same type of ethnic mixtures. I would not find it to be newsworthy at all if Microsoft would have simply taken a different picture all together for their ad. In other words, what appeals to Americans, may not appeal to European nations, or any other country for that matter. With this being said, I do not feel that it was in Microsoft’s best interest to modify ONLY the face of the one person pictured in the ad. Another question to be brought up is since they removed the African American man, why not the Asian man as well? Why not spend a bit more time on the ad and make it unique to all other areas of interest to make sure that you receive the maximum interest level to sell the product. With all eyes planted on the interesting battle between PC and Mac it was almost as if the media was waiting for someone to make the first slip up and become categorized as “offensive”. A simple mistake like this takes some of the spotlight away from their main interest, money, towards something that could have been avoided by paying more attention to detail. This brings up another good point: money. After all, we all know that this is the main point of a company. Now by looking at this from a different perspective, who is to say that by unveiling an ad with a more equal racial profile that they will not attract even more customers. For example, from a company’s perspective, it would be in their best interest to advertise towards the type of race that is already providing them with the most profit. But if they were to expand their horizon and make a broader ethnic ad, this may attract even more people from all different ethnic backgrounds. (The reason I bring this up is on account of large businesses trend to over analyze statistics.) My main point is that having a broad ethic spectrum in an ad in analytical or statistical sense may not be a good idea, but in actuality may appeal to more than the statistics can analyze. I feel that businesses often times keep all eyes on the stat sheets instead of paying more attention to innovative ad campaigns. Race should not be the main worry of an ad campaign. Displaying the product and company should be the main goal of any advertisement. If a product is good enough, people will not be worried with the ethnicities of the models in the ad, but rather buying the product.
I think that the Microsoft photoshopped advertisement is a blatant display of racism. Their marketing logic makes sense; use white people in ads to appeal to a dominantly white population. However race is not a problem, racism is the issue. For the purpose of advertising, certain techniques work but we are only perpetuating racism by not exposing people to other races. So what if it hurts business? This world is too corrupt. We need to get people used to the idea of embracing difference. I feel that a huge portion of the world is uneducated and we need to open their minds. A lot of people are racist because they are ignorant and stuck in their small lives, but several educated people are racist although they know better. I feel that we need to shove diversity down people’s throats. They need to see advertisements that are racially diverse so that it opens their mind. Let advertising do the educating.
I feel that often we don’t see change because NOTHING is done to change the way that people think. If we grow up and spend our lives looking at stereotypes in advertisements, they how can we help but pick up on the stereotype whenever we think of people of different ethnicities. I am a women’s studies minor I was attracted to the subject because it made me think in ways that I had never thought before. We all need to look at life through a different lense and perspective. We may think that we have a grasp on reality but I don’t think that we see the bigger picture. Let’s see: What occurs is that advertisements blatantly display racism so that companies make more money. The bigger picture says that RACISM IS BAD, to put it simply. Somehow the bigger picture always gets shut down. Money matters, it keeps our system together and it bypasses huge issues such as racism even though racism needs to be done away with.
Although the Microsoft advertisement in Poland may seem harmless, it is a big deal because racism is a big deal. We are not making progress and racism occurs by the second. Instead, by adapting ads to attract the consumer we are rubbing racism deeper into people’s brains. I think that there is a fine line in determining what is racist and what is intelligent marketing. Obviously it would not make sense to put an ad of just Asian and Black people in Poland. But we should aim towards diversity. Showing people that individual’s of all races do interact and live/work within the same environment. People need to be familiarized with the idea that race is not a barrier or something to be afraid of. We are all human, yet race divides us so harshly. Minds need to be opened and enhanced.
It is clear that the issue addressed in the Microsoft ad can be portrayed as racism in its dirtiest, most blatant form. A white man’s head as photo shopped over a black mans to appeal to a mainly white audience. As Professor Richards stated, a participant was basically told that he had to “relinquish his seat at the table because of his race”. This is a prime situation of the essence of racism in that somebody’s position was refused due to the color of his skin. However, if most of this ad’s audience could relate better if the models were white, then is this really racism? I believe that although the action might, in fact, root from innate racism, this might have just been a smart marketing mechanism.
When it comes to advertising and marketing, persuasion and appealing to the proper audience at hand is the key to success. If the makers of this ad and their client, Microsoft, sold their product by the dissemination of this ad, then the ad was successful. One of advertisings biggest components and obstacles is to appeal to the greatest audience in which the ad is directed to, and in this case, the ad is directed at the corporate people of Poland. They have to please and persuade their own market. If the majority of the audience is Caucasian because of an overpowering Caucasian population in Poland, it simply doesn’t wouldn’t be rational to have a black man sitting at a table in the ad. Marketing strategies show that research of the public is essential to success, and therefore their strategy in this ad, although many might understandably see it as racist and politically incorrect, was wise and prudent.
Although I do believe the marketing of this ad is completely rational and necessary for appeal to it’s particular audience, it is important to recognize that these marketing strategies might root from racism in themselves. If not racism, then maybe ignorance would be a better word. What I mean by this is, Microsoft felt that a white person would be a more appropriate fit for the Polish audience because the population is overwhelmingly white. With this said, they might be somewhat unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the idea of a person of another race in their work place, or interacting with their own “corporate culture”. Since ad companies are trained to understand these racial disparities and ‘unknowns’, it was smart of them to utilize this knowledge. However, it is sad to see that when a nation, state, company, or any other organization for that matter is unfamiliar with a different race, they feel more comfortable looking at an ad of their own people.
So, it is a double-edged sword; they advertise to please their predominantly white audience, however, their predominantly white audience feels uncomfortable being advertised by people of race because they are never exposed to these kind of people or multiracial ads in the first place. Where is the line drawn?
First of all, when I read the article from BBC News, one of the bloggers from the Photoshop Disasters blog stated that the white man with the black hands symbolizes interracial harmony. In my opinion that is just kind of funny. This is just an excuse to try and make everything seem ok again. However, in my opinion there are many other ways to show interracial harmony and a photoshopped picture is not necessarily the best, or most politically correct, way of going about doing this.
Having worked in several businesses, I can understand the importance of advertising to the appropriate community and keeping in mind your consumer. You don’t see biker men with tattoos advertising for teeth whitener and at the same time you don’t see real clean cut people advertising for Harleys. Companies want to advertise their product to a certain type of consumers. However, doing this with race is a little different. Is this an issue of racism? This is something that is debatable. If the hands on the man were changed as well as the face, or if it was just a different man in general, than no one would have known and we might not have this issue. Are we able to change the way the entire country of Poland thinks and views a black person, in reality no. But what they need to realize is that even if the man is black, they need to focus on his overall appearance, not just his skin color. He is a well dressed man, obviously well educated and successful. And for this, it shouldn’t matter what the color of his skin is.
For such a respectable and reputable company to make a mistake like this is kind of a big deal. However, it does show the truth about not only the corporate world, but about society in general. The fact that Poland has a large majority of white people is something that cannot necessarily be changed. But what can be changed, or at least try to be changed, is their thoughts and opinions of other races. It may not even be that they are racist and have bad opinions or members or other races, but more so just that they are ignorant about the whole situation. People generally like to stick to what they know, and in Poland that just happens to be a society of mostly white people. The world of advertising is one of many fine lines and one where these lines can often get crossed. These issues include sex, religion, politics, race, and many more. This advertisement is just another example of someone taking something too far over the line and testing society and its limits.
First off I am somewhat offended that you would call marketing manipulation. Although I am just getting into the major of marketing I would not call myself manipulative or racist in any way. I do agree that the marketing industry like any industry needs to grow and move away from racism, sexism, ageism, lookism, sizeism and every other type of “isms” out there. You yourself work for university that majorly lacks cultural and ethnic representation. Just like every type of institution, there are forms of discrimination limiting various groups of people. You, I, and everyone else needs to continue living, but with a more open mind, because otherwise the world would not grow at all. I do not think that what they did in this advertisement was correct, but like you said yourself, Poland is a very white country. If it were the United States, we would most definitely encourage diversity and so this would seem completely out of the question. In the United States, marketers and advertisers are constantly trying to portray diverse ads to increase the range of consumers. They want a wide range of geographic, and demographics to expose ideas, products and services for different people. I believe that this is a form of racism, but maybe in Poland it is not viewed that way and they are just more ignorant. I think that it is good that marketers and advertisers are trying to promote diversity in advertisement. There should be less of an association with race and specific clothing, food, or services. The more welcoming a commercial is for all blacks, whites, etc. more people will act, dress, and eat foods that are more accepted among one another. At the same time, you do not want to rid the world of different races, and people because that is what makes the world so unique and beautiful. I personally feel bad for the black man that was replaced, because it goes along with the many stereotypes that have shaped the world, as it is known today. He is no less of a person than that of the white man. The United States sets a precedent for other countries, industries, etc. and promotes diversity. The more we encourage United State companies to be more diverse, the more people in other nations will follow our lead. By expressing strong emotions and feelings by this advertisement, the more we prove that this is inacceptable in our nation and that it should be the same in others. I think photo shopping is a terrible tool in itself and that it encourages people to be different, be it a different color, shape, etc. People should be okay with themselves without having to worry about looking perfect and up to society’s standards. If we are more accepting as a society there would less discrimination and self-obsession.
Everyday a mistake occurs. Our history is scarred with tragic mistakes that reveal our obstinate human behavior. Hitler assassinated millions of Jews in front of the world. The land of the free imprisoned innocent slaves for over a hundred years. These problems are worth talking about because we cannot risk having these travesties occur again. The media's desperation to pounce on an innocent mistake of one of America's largest is the major unethical act I learned from the Microsoft racial story.
Yes, Microsoft's action left a bad taste in my mouth as well; however, they are a business that survives off profits just like humans survive off food. Poland is white. More than 97 percent of Poland is white. That's a lot of white people. Businesses' goal is to create comfort and trust between the company and the consumer. What better way to this than show a white person to a nearly all white nation. Instead of blaming advertisement schemes as manipulating let's take a look at the cause of the tactics businesses use. We are the ones who feel more comfortable with familiar faces in a media campaign so don't blame the business, blame us. Advertisement campaigns only prove to be effective if they establish a definite rapport with the consumer. Therefore switching the black male's face with the white man's face is just business, and for those who are hurt by this; Why are you living in a capitalistic country?
The veritable media outlet known as BBC did not hesitate to push this article not for racism but for profits. Let's be honest here, if one really wanted to see a story about racism we would talk about the nearly 12.4 million slaves that walk the planet today. This article proposes nothing more than a cheap way to wring profits from a struggling newspapers market. The insolent lows that the media will go to is truly astonishing. Microsoft apologized and reassured consumers that they were working to fix the problem. What else could anyone want?
The mistake of forgetting to switch the hand color was an innocent mistake. Humans have proven, time over time, that we are imperfect. People forget that to expect perfection from a human is ignorant as a child believing in his imaginary friend. So, to all the bloggers blogging, the newspapers publishing, and the hyper-sensitive professors feeling the need to waste their students time by reading this article, I pose a single question: If humans are imperfect, then how do you expect a business, an enterprise conjured by humans, to be perfect? Exactly, a perfect business is as much of a fabrication than the imaginary friends you idiots had when you were children.
This is the second time I see someone write about this curious case on a blog site. As an international student, I have lived in different countries and become attracted to issues related to different cultures. Therefore, I was easily intrigued by this story. However, without the press clamoring about this, I really would not make any big deal out of this. People behave like they are surprised and amazed. They question Microsoft for doing this – but doing what? Isn’t this just another marketing strategy employed by all private companies?
Maybe the head-swapping Photoshop was less than professional: The hand was left entirely unchanged – I do not know what went wrong with the Microsoft marketing team because I personally believe a regular high school student could handle the Photoshop software much better.
Back to my point, I will not categorize this case as racism – because this is a simple measure of marketing purpose. For example, KFC in China would rather place Chinese actors in their advertisements in place of Americans. Poland is a country with one of the smallest black populations – so putting poor Photoshop techniques aside, this is in effect just like any other advertisements we see on the internet. However, more racist are the people who will not stop ranting about this. They are simply too conscious about race and racism. In my opinion, the day when racism stop existing is the day people no longer consider skin color an issue – the day we no longer talk or even think about these fractional differences between human beings, but now, we are still too paranoid.
In America, as the blog writer mentioned and as Microsoft’s advertisement has shown, we always have to place minority people in all advertisements and posters. As a member from the minority group, I appreciate the respect and thoughtfulness. However, it is also the thoughtfulness that bothers me. Like I said, the thoughtfulness shows that we are overly conscious. To put it simply, publicists are so paranoid that if the non-white population is not represented, somebody will feel left out and something will go wrong in this society. It is partly true, but at the same time, these posters are just as well reminding us that we are clearly separated by different skin colors.
This is only one small case that lies on the surface of all race-related problems. There are many more debacles that exist deep down in everyone’s mind and in the mass media’s propaganda. Those are the real issues that we should think about and deal with. Marketing strategies by private companies are mostly straightforward, but racism is subtle and complicated. Publishing harmonious pictures and pretending everything’s okay is not the best way to cure our paranoia.
First of all, I would agree with the thoughts regarding the advertisement appeal to people in certain countries. I don’t feel like identifying people in advertisements with the majority of people in a certain place is racism. Instead, I feel like this is a marketing strategy. When it comes to this specific advertisement, however, I feel like there was malicious and spiteful actions taken against the black man in the advertisement. I mean, the least they could have done would be to remove him ENTIRELY from the photo. Instead, they simply replaced his head with that of a white man. While the intentions very well may have been completely innocent, the way in which the switch was carried out was highly disrespectful and completely unnecessary. At the very least, they could have removed him completely.
What it comes down to is marketing. There are efficient and respectful ways in which to market to certain groups of people successfully. As previously mentioned, one black model very well may be replaced by a white one in a Dove commercial in Poland or something along these lines. As a public relations major, I can certainly assure that this is a highly common practice amongst public relations, advertising and marketing officials. In a country like the United States, where culture is highly diverse and there are a vast amount of different people present, the first ad, featuring the black man, is highly acceptable as a marketing strategy. I’d even go so far as to say that the second, featuring only white people, might be looked upon as racist within the Americas. Without the mentioning or showing of someone of a different ethnicity than Caucasian, the company would be looked upon as showing favoritism towards white people.
I don’t really think someone can make judgments about another country’s culture and acceptance factor until they’ve experienced it. Who’s to say that the Polish are racist just because their ads feature only people of Caucasian decent? You can’t fault these people for the lack of diversity within their country. They’re constantly surrounded by people who look like them; they’re exposed to ads featuring only white people because this is their lifestyle. If you have this attitude, then you think people who live in Kenya are (reverse) racist then too, right? They’re only surrounded by black people, and I would take a guess that the (little) advertisements they have feature people who are black/look like them/they identify with. Being from the United States, where we are constantly exposed to people of different races and cultures – our President is black and of Muslim decent, for God’s sake – it is easy for us to point out the supposed racism of other countries. But I feel if people were to take a step back and try to see things from other people’s perspectives, or take a walk in their shoes to experience their surroundings, we’d be a lot less judgmental regarding supposed racist countries and cultures.
There are certainly varying degrees of racism. Calling a Negro a “banana eating jungle monkey” is the most obvious form of racism, but the strategic decision by Microsoft is also a less major form of racism. This is a less serious case because business seems to have a different ethical code from every day society. In business the main goal is to accumulate the most amount of profit as possible. Usually this calls for racial equality so that other customers are not offended, but when the demographics call for marketing toward only a single race, it is the correct thing to do. They are not placing their personal beliefs out in their advertisement. They are simply advertising what their potential customers want to see. Would an area such as Harlem (which is heavily populated with Negros and Hispanics) have an advertisement for basketball sneakers with a puny white boy or a tall, athletic black man? It is easy business logic not racism according to business. In the real world, yes, it is racism, but as a business major I have no problem with it.
The title of the blog is Political Correctness or Blatant Racism. It is obvious that Microsoft was not being blatantly racist, unlike those politicians and policemen who cannot seem to keep their mouths shut. In a country like Poland this is an example of being politically correct. Microsoft simply took a rough estimate of the population in Poland and applied it to their advertisement. Since the sample size in the advertisement was small, there was not enough room to have a black person in it. If the advertisement could allow for any more people to be photographed, most likely a black person would have been pictured in it. This was just an accurate analysis done by Microsoft’s marketing team. I am certain that in Poland the advertisement was successful.
An advertisement does not have to include every ethnicity in it. Why is it that we do not hear about a lack of Indians (people of India) or Native Americans in advertisement even though they are prevalent in the United States? The United States’ are so worried about preventing actions that can be construed to be racist towards blacks, Hispanics, and Asians that other ethnicities are being forgot about. We are discriminating in attempt to not discriminate someone else. So if we stop analyzing every little thing in society, we would be a lot happier as a whole. In advertising, most people are just concentrated on the product being sold until one person opens their mouth and mentions that they forgot to have a black female in it. It never would have caused a commotion if people weren’t set on analyzing it.
In August of 2009 Microsoft was in a racism row after altering a U.S. ad by replacing a black man’s face with a white man’s face for its Poland business unit. This event caused a lot of controversy. Some accused Microsoft of being racist, while others though they are just being politically correct for Poland’s target audience. I find the Microsoft Ad very odd and strange, more than it being racist. There are several things that made me come to this conclusion.
First off, I think it is difficult to know whether the ad is racist or not. The fact of removing the black man’s face may seem racist, but in reality it may not be. No one knows the artist’s who photoshoped the image intentions. So I believe it is unfair to blindly label the ad as racist. It could well maybe that Microsoft want to sell this specific product to a specific target audience. Thus they found it more suitable to remove the black man’s face and replace it with a white man’s. There are very few black people in Poland. So the editors of the ad probably found it suitable to remove the black guy’s face.
The fact that Microsoft only removed the black guy’s face is very strange however. I can’t believe a company in the stature of Microsoft would be careless enough to only remove the black man’s face and forget to Photoshop the black man’s hand. A high school student photoshoping this image would not make a stupid mistake like that. Some think that Microsoft did this on purpose to show that the white head and black hand actually symbolize interracial harmony. Whoever thinks that way must be joking in my opinion. And it would be very comical if they are serious.
Also it is very surprising to me that Microsoft did not Photoshop the Asian man’s face also. There are probably fewer Asians in Poland that there are Africans. So the question that begs to be asked is, why didn’t Microsoft Photoshop the Asian man’s face as well?? This fact could only prove that person who did this is racist, not politically correct.
In my opinion, I think what Microsoft did was wrong and unnecessary. When I see a commercial, I pay attention to the product and not who is in it. I could care less if the person was black, white, brown, or purple. As long that the product is not intended for a specific gender or race, then I could care less. This opinion does not work well in the real world however. Advertisers care too much about the subtle messages their advertisements give. This goes both ways. Some advertisers make sure they have people of all different races and genders in their advertisements too make sure they don’t appear “racist.” While others care too much about their target audience, that they make sure whoever is in the advertisement correspond exactly to the target audience.
The whole issue of race has gotten out of hand here. It is so easy for one to sue because they were treated “unjustly” due to their race. It has become an excuse that is known all too well. People will blame others for not “including” their race in an ad, yet be upset if they are pointed out in ads as a different race. It is like a white person looking at the “Allstate” car insurance ad and saying that he/she is being represented in an ill manner (the person who is crashing in the car!) whilst the black man is being represented as being a leader or superior. It was simply a choice of the advertising agency as who to pick to play their ads, even if they are all black people working in Allstate. However, white people have lost the right to complain about race as now they are portrayed as those who enslaved blacks back in the day.
This Microsoft ad was aimed at a certain group of people, because if no black person existed in the US, then it wouldn’t make sense to include a black person to sell whatever the ad is selling. We have made groups, we have separated each other into different and people find it much more “comforting” to be closely related to a group of people and associate themselves with other people. So that won’t be undone since people thrive on culture… or race. So, one could say that the ad has been modified in an appropriate way to target those that it is mean to target in different demographic groups. It may also be like comparing this; if an ad was selling a Microsoft product to Arabs and all it showed in the ad was Americans, I am sure it wouldn’t be as compelling as if there were Arabs in the ad! The Arabs will understand that the company respects and has accounted for that specific culture which makes it seem appealing to people of that culture. And if a black person was to be upset about not being in the Arab ad which was not even displayed in the US, then that person has issues, as they are nothing to do with that specific culture, although there are black Arabs.
A contradiction to this would be BET. Black entertainment Television! If the ad was racist for selling “smartly” then what would one say to BET? It is a channel aimed at black people! They have set themselves apart as a different race, yet they become upset when they are looked at differently. All of this in lieu of the whole slavery thing! I myself am not a hater or racist in any way, but I cannot help but question any racial group’s authority in separation of themselves from any group yet point the finger once another racial group identifies them with what they identify themselves! It is just many contradictions!
Finally, if a white person was replaced by a black person on that ad, the story would be completely different; there would be no complaint necessary as no racial group was violated!
After reading the post entitled, “Political Correctness or Blatant Racism” I was not surprised at all to hear about a major company like Microsoft have an advertisement pitch like that. Microsoft and every other multinational company use pitches like this all the time. They make them marketable by pitching the right things to the right people. For example, a branch in India may have two people sitting at the desk who look like they came from that part of the world and one white person to show diversity in the workplace. I don’t know why people make such a big deal out culturally correct things. We are moving toward a globalized world, where many different races and cultures are coming together. People are going to have to get over themselves soon enough. I can see why Microsoft changed the picture from a Black man in the U.S. to a white man in Poland. I’ve personally been to Poland and there are not that many “African American” people there. Consumers in Poland are different than consumers in the U.S., meaning they have a different taste and preference. That’s not to say that Polish people are racist because they’re not, but a white man in the advertisement, in my opinion, would be more marketable in Poland. The way they went about changing the men though was horribly wrong. First of all, they shouldn’t have photo shopped a different guys head in and leave his hands there. That just looks stupid. Secondly, a man traveling across the country on business could easily tell the difference from one paper to another. This was bad Marketing on Microsoft’s part. The press catching this hurt them a little bit I would bet also. People probably have it in their heads now that certain people aren’t good enough for the almighty Microsoft. Race is one of the biggest issues in our world today. This last year for example, was a huge year for race conversations. Especially for us in the U.S. having elected our first African American president and all. People came out of the wood work to bash on him during his election process. They still continue to do it today. Companies need to watch what they are doing, before they have a major lawsuit on their hands for showing racist ads on TV, or articles in the News. I was surprised however that as big a company as Microsoft is that they didn’t think about the ruckus this article would bring about in the world of today. These major companies are just doing what they see fit to be a marketable business, most of the CEO’s of these big companies doing the marketing aren’t white either. They’re just doing what they see fit to make a profit and keep their job. I think they made a mistake handling it the way they did, but for businesses to make money they have to do what is marketable to their area of consumers.
The Microsoft ad was definitely drawn for publication in the polish market most likely to increase their sales in that specific area of Europe. First of all I’ll start off saying that because almost every polish person is white doesn’t mean they can’t accept a person of different race. If you went to Arica, you’d be the only white person there and would be saying how black these people are. (Ref to article and previous journal). From previous experience my father and I went to Poland three years ago on vacation. Not mentioning that my whole family is 100% polish, there was a black gentleman on the plane heading towards Poland that spoke the language fluently and sat in the business section of the plane. Reacting back to the article there was no need to comment on why the face was photo shopped. It was done primarily to attract business and make the sales of Microsoft increase in the global market. And yes it is very rare to see people from African countries fluently speak a European language but in our world anything is possible right now. It is clearly understood that there is more diversity in the United States of America than any other country is American is the youngest land and the most recently discovered. People from all over the world came to the U.S to begin a new life and help improve the life of their existing family. Getting back to the point and to a side that I will agree from the article is that if that commercial aired in the United States the white gentleman would most definitely be replaced by an individual of color. Why though? Well because as stated above, the U.S is a more diverse country than any other. Also to prevent any racial problems and keep the company good in a good publicity standing, they would like to avoid having to deal with racial issues since business might be tremendously affected by that. In my opinion someone somewhere will always find something wrong with an ad commercial if it’s not to their pleasing. Big companies try to make a lot of money and their way of doing that is to attract their target audience by the study of demographics in the region. It is true that were there is a higher population of Asian residents that commercial will have more Asian individuals in their commercial to make it more appealing, once again to increase their sales to their goals. I believe Microsoft did the right decision by changing the individual because it most likely turned out to be for their own good. They have experts that study these specific things to know what will be best for the company. If Microsoft was my company I would most definitely do what they did simply to attract potential customers and adjust our view within the different markets that we would advertise in. And to answer the final quote and question: "relinquish his seat at the table because of his race" is...well...racist. Isn't that what racism is? I don’t believe that to be true because once again it’s simply just for business attraction and I believe African American people are way too sensitive to see what they consider racism and what they do not.
In response to the Microsoft advertisement, I think Microsoft may have only been aiming to target a specific audience, but because they did not do it carefully and really took the time to think it through, they dug themselves into quite a large hole with many people. It is up to the company if they want to go and completely alter someone’s look or remove them completely from an advertisement, but to make such an obvious mistake like not changing the color of the black man’s arm seems like a pretty big mistake for a company that is known for being worldwide and very reputable.
I have mixed feelings on this advertisement. Although the intentions of Microsoft may have been to target a specific audience, I don’t think they should have altered the advertisement. Just because Poland has more white people than it does black people, I would guess that there has ato be a FEW black people living in Poland. But still, that isn’t even the point. Aren’t we trying to promote multi-culturalism everywhere and not just the United States? Like I said before, Microsoft is a worldwide company so you would think that changing someone’s race in an advertisement in a little unnecessary. Even if Microsoft was not trying to be racist, they made it seem that way because they took the black man out and replaced it with a white man.
But on the other hand, in so many advertisements companies alter their advertisements to target a specific audience and make it appeal to whom they think might be watching it or want to purchase the product. Does it work? I think so and most of the time I think we fall for it, but other times I have to also think that it really does not make much of a difference. Is someone in Poland really not going to buy the Microsoft product just because a black man is in the advertisement? I wouldn’t think so but this could just be my opinion. It is common to see advertisements target specific audiences because that is how they sell their product. But because race is now involved, no one wants to step on any toes and appear racist. However, if we stopped and took the time to look at the big picture, I think advertisements and targeting a specific race is already out there and clearly being used as a way to sell products. Even though companies use it and it might work, I would like to assume that if someone really wants to the buy the product, they are going to either way and it would not be based on the race of the person in the advertisement. I’m not sure why Microsoft thought it was so important to completely change the ad but if the goal was to focus on one specific target to sell their product, perhaps they should have been more careful when changing the ad. Microsoft is so well known all over the world so why would they be working so hard to focus on just one group?
First off, I find it completely hard to believe that Microsoft is “investigating” who is at fault for photo shopping this controversial picture. I mean I don’t think the person who altered this picture it is that mysterious, or on the other hand was not told to do those “minor alterations.” Second this is absolutely ridiculous. It’s the year 2009 people. I think its time we get over racial barriers. Maybe start with something small, like including African American people in advertisements! I actually applaud the United States for including the Asian man, the African American man, and the white woman. I mean it doesn’t really make sense to be applauding them but frankly the Polish company who altered the pictures is completely out of line.
Then there are those people who said the Black Hand and the white head was a symbol for unity between the two races. Open your eyes please. How naïve are you. There is no symbolic bond between the two, and Microsoft certainly didn’t intend for one. The people whom altered the picture probably just had bad vision and felt that no one else would notice the slight change in color from the white mans face to the black mans arm (which could also bring out the fact that the African American man is in fact very similar to the Caucasian man.) No surprise there. With no holds barred, I’m not really surprised at the advertisement in general. Poland has little to no diversity which would result in them wanting their consumers to feel a connection to the people displayed in the advertisements they are looking at. I mean maybe if they introduced the idea of African Americans into their advertisements it could really open the eyes of Polish citizens. I guess if they’re still close-minded at this point it’s only right to allow them to view multi-racial advertisements that could virtually change their views. But you know... that’s just a thought.
Why is it that these problems are still occurring? It baffles me how virtually everything results back to racism. How can one of the biggest corporations in the world mess up so badly. I mean, I’m sure they will have more than enough money to rebound from this mistake, and many of its customers will still continue to use their products. However, maybe Microsoft should run their business much similar to the ideas used in congress… with a system of checks and balances? I think maybe then they could avoid stupid mistakes like the one shown here. I mean I guess they were unaware of the harsh feedback that would come with their advertisements but lets get real, who hires someone to Photoshop for Microsoft, and the guy cant even remember to Photoshop the only other part of the body that is shown.
I think all that Microsoft was doing here was smart advertising. If you are going to sell Gatorade you are not going to have an eighty year old women (unless she was some famous athlete) sitting in her wheel chair holding a G-2. You also would not expect a nine year old girl or boy to be featured in an add for Trojan condums. So why would you put anything other than a white person in an add targeted toward white people? (that is- if your goal is to sell your product) … if your goal is to make a point or be politically correct things might change. In reality this is how the world is. It’s like picking teams for dodge ball in grade school. The uncoordinated kid gets picked last. Maybe that is mean and everyone should get a fair shot at playing. Anyway, if you look at this situation through the survival of the fittest eye- it makes sense to only have white people in the photo.
Now that is a logical answer/reason to why this little photo-shopping incident occurred. Now a days who cares if it’s logical, if somebody’s feelings are hurt- it’s a bad idea. Which I am ok with, I rather live in a world where you keep those thoughts to yourself. I try to ask myself before I speak three questions that a good family friend was famous for saying before he passed away- 1. Is it true? 2. Is it necessary? 3. Is it kind?
Now, if people in the advertising business world, trying to make money off of other people’s needs/ emotions, would ask themselves these questions… would there really be problems like the one in this photo? Hmm Is this photo true- not if it’s photoshoped… is it true that only white people use Microsoft- obliviously not. Is it necessary to exclude/ include the black guy? What is realistic(in Poland) the white man would make sense, right? Is it kind, it’s never really nice to exclude people from anything.
It's not very realistic to ask everyone to be morally correct- we promote it but don’t live it. In the example of the blog previous to this one, there is a man who makes a joke about a gorilla that escaped from a zoo was one of Michelle Obama's cousins. He later apologized and said it was in "jest." This man was somebody who was in a position of power and would not be saying something like this in public. My thought is, if he is not going to say it in public, why say it in private? I understand there are some things you don't want the world to know about but when it is a comment that is disrespectful to someone else, what good does that do? It's the oldest lesson we all know and have heard thousands of times: if you don't have something nice to say- don't say it at all.... This is not as much about the Microsoft photo as it is about people being nice. Anyway I think the point I want to make is the majority of the time people will do what they need to do to make as much money as they can, regardless of ethical/ moral constraints. My other point is people who talk crap about people behind their backs are cowards.
I think all that Microsoft was doing here was smart advertising. If you are going to sell Gatorade you are not going to have an eighty year old women (unless she was some famous athlete) sitting in her wheel chair holding a G-2. You also would not expect a nine year old girl or boy to be featured in an add for Trojan condums. So why would you put anything other than a white person in an add targeted toward white people? (that is- if your goal is to sell your product) … if your goal is to make a point or be politically correct things might change. In reality this is how the world is. It’s like picking teams for dodge ball in grade school. The uncoordinated kid gets picked last. Maybe that is mean and everyone should get a fair shot at playing. Anyway, if you look at this situation through the survival of the fittest eye- it makes sense to only have white people in the photo.
Now that is a logical answer/reason to why this little photo-shopping incident occurred. Now a days who cares if it’s logical, if somebody’s feelings are hurt- it’s a bad idea. Which I am ok with, I rather live in a world where you keep those thoughts to yourself. I try to ask myself before I speak three questions that a good family friend was famous for saying before he passed away- 1. Is it true? 2. Is it necessary? 3. Is it kind?
Now, if people in the advertising business world, trying to make money off of other people’s needs/ emotions, would ask themselves these questions… would there really be problems like the one in this photo? Hmm Is this photo true- not if it’s photoshoped… is it true that only white people use Microsoft- obliviously not. Is it necessary to exclude/ include the black guy? What is realistic(in Poland) the white man would make sense, right? Is it kind, it’s never really nice to exclude people from anything.
It's not very realistic to ask everyone to be morally correct- we promote it but don’t live it. In the example of the blog previous to this one, there is a man who makes a joke about a gorilla that escaped from a zoo was one of Michelle Obama's cousins. He later apologized and said it was in "jest." This man was somebody who was in a position of power and would not be saying something like this in public. My thought is, if he is not going to say it in public, why say it in private? I understand there are some things you don't want the world to know about but when it is a comment that is disrespectful to someone else, what good does that do? It's the oldest lesson we all know and have heard thousands of times: if you don't have something nice to say- don't say it at all.... This is not as much about the Microsoft photo as it is about people being nice. Anyway I think the point I want to make is the majority of the time people will do what they need to do to make as much money as they can, regardless of ethical/ moral constraints. My other point is people who talk crap about people behind their backs are cowards.
Before I even read a sentence of this article, I already knew the whole story just by looking at the two pictures. Someone altered an ad to remove a black guy and this really upset some people. While I do not agree with what Microsoft did, because in this age you must be politically correct 24/7, I understand the fact that Microsoft is a business and they needed to sell their product.
I learned in one of my major communication classes that your target audience is the most important aspect of advertising; you must appeal to them if you want to make the sale. So, in Microsoft’s defense they were just doing business. In a very predominately white country, would it be smart to use all Asians, or all African Americans? I don’t think so. People want to be able to relate to a product, and the Polish business community would obviously relate more to a white person. Whether people would like to admit it or not, there is a certain amount of comfort in seeing your own race using a product as oppose to another race. If you went to a predominantly white town in Alabama and there was an ad with all African American people, my guess is not many white people in that community would respond well to that ad. I do not think this is a blatant racist act but rather a strategic move by someone in the marketing department of Microsoft.
I understand why Americans are upset about this, but this ad wasn’t run in our country where we are very multi-racial. If the change had been made and then put out in the states, I could see why it might turn some heads. Poland, according to Professor Richards is not multi-racial at all. Microsoft’s objective is to sell its product, and whoever is in charge of the marketing department made a strategic move to meet the objective. However, the marketing department made a careless mistake of not changing the color of the man’s hands, which makes them look less credible. If they are going to make the change, they should have executed it a little more professionally.
Aside from the business aspect of all this, Microsoft needs to asks itself what kind of an image do they want to portray? They are a global business, which begs the question, why would they have any need to change that advertisement? Do they feel like they can’t always be 100% “global” and make sales at the same time? I think Microsoft’s marketing department needs to re-evaluate their approach to being a global business.
Last question is, was this a big issue in Poland? Were any business men/women offended that Microsoft replaced the black man with a white man? I would be curious to know what their reaction was to this “scandal.” After all, the ad was formulated for Poland not multi-racial/politically correct America.
I feel that that Microsoft situation is very complicated. I do believe it is wrong for them to photo shop out a black man and replace it with a white guy. That certainly seems like it would be considered racism. However, as a marketing major, I know that these situations aren’t always meant to be racist. For the bus advertisement example, I think it makes sense to include an Asian woman in San Francisco, a black woman in Memphis, and a Hispanic woman in Miami. I really do not think marketers and advertisers do this to be racist. It is simply trying to get the attention of their target market. It is kind of like using Michael Jordan as a spokesman for the NHL. It wouldn’t make sense because he would be more appealing to the basketball market. Because Miami has a heavily Hispanic population, using a Hispanic woman in the ad and possibly having the ad in Spanish shouldn’t offend anybody. I know that this may sound a little fucked up, but I really doubt the people controlling these ads are racists. This is just the way business is right now. I’m not saying that I agree with it because I think that skin color and race shouldn’t matter in advertising or in anything. However, we are still living in a world where it does matter. As long as people are concerned about race, then things like this will continue to happen. Business has become so competitive today, especially since the recession, that companies will do anything to get a leg up on the competition. While I do think that actually photo shopping a black man out of an ad is terrible; I do not think that changing ads for different demographics necessarily is. Race is a horribly complicated issue, and when you bring business and making money into the mix it gets even worse. I do not think the Microsoft Company was attempting to be racist. I think they were trying to their best to make a profit and didn’t think through the situation. I don’t think I would even call what they were trying to do “political correctness.” They just thought using a white person in their ad would make it more successful than using a black person. I guess you can call this thinking racism, but keep in mind the company doesn’t determine the success of their ads. Consumers are the ones who make this decision. So really, they were thinking the people of Poland might be the ones who are racist or just more comfortable seeing a white face. This is just a bad situation all around and it will continue to be as long as we let our race divide us. However, I don’t think the marketers are the ones to blame and I don’t know if it is appropriate to call them racists.
I think it is impossible to find one simple answer for this event. It goes so back and forth, and there is no doubt in my mind that you can find strongly opinionated people fighting on either side. Personally, I think it is ridiculous that a company would make such a blatant change. For one, it clearly won’t take long to end up being a public decision. With all the buzz all around us about race and racism and discrimination, the second a decision like this gets made you can bet someone is going to jump at the opportunity to get some serious money off of publicizing it. Additionally, the fact that such a well-known company traded a black man for a white man is absurd. I don’t buy for a second that someone else took the photo and made the decision to use it as an advertisement. In my eyes, that it is just a convenient way to cover up their actions. They are almost asking to be criticized for their action, as well as judged by it. Additionally, the fact that the hands and body remain the same is just lazy as well as demeaning. I don’t agree with the action, but if you’re going to do it at least replace the entire person! I understand that it is in order to sell a product, but that isn’t a good enough reason.
For those defending the action, I think it is important to look at it from the other side. I can confidently say that if I saw myself replaced for “better sales” in an advertisement, I would not be happy. In fact, I’d be disgusted. If the company didn’t think I was good enough to sell the product, then I should have never been hired in the first place, period. I agree with the fact that sales in the United States do usually represent a person of color as well as women, but if I found some advertisement had been altered in order to represent different cultures and sexes, I wouldn’t feel represented, I would feel an urge to stay away from the company.
Lastly, if a company truly finds it necessary to change their ad to more directly hit their target group, then shoot a new add. Microsoft is clearly a company that has enough money to do so. They’re not hiding anything by making the new picture look so real—that takes money too. So if you need to try to apply to your audience in a more consumer-friendly way, then make a new advertisement for the group you’re targeting. Don’t insult people by simply changing the head of a person. That’s just going to turn an equally large amount of consumers against you, not encourage a target group to buy.
When reading this article about Microsoft I was really shocked, I never thought a company this big would ever get involved with a racism problem. Microsoft had to apologize to the public for changing the face of a black man to the face of the white man. In my opinion I think this is a type of discrimination against black people. By doing this Microsoft is letting the public know that they would rather have people that are of white skin then people of darker skin in their advertisements. Even though when advertising, companies should take in consideration their audience, I think it was not right for them to Photoshop this picture. I understand that this advertisement was probably meant mostly for people living in Poland which are mostly of white descent. But even if that was the case there is still black people living in Poland, so people should also take them into consideration as well. Obviously to the public this was a big concern because of the whole idea that they changed the photo from being a black person to a white person. Even though it is not know yet who altered the photo, and investigation is taking place to find out who it was. Whoever altered the photo made a big mistake of not changing the color of the hands as well, and with this mistake Microsoft is now caught in this racism scandal. This was obviously a big issue because this was a form of discrimination toward the black person in the picture. Many are probably wondering why anyone would do such a thing, because in my opinion it’s better to advertise with more diversity then just to stick to one race. When people see diversity it makes people become more interested in what they are seeing or reading. If anyone sees someone else of the same race in an advertisement, there is the probability that they are going to pay more attention to it than if it was of another race. And with Microsoft being such a big company that is full of clients of different backgrounds or ethnicities, it’s really hard to believe they are in this scandal. I sure things like this happened all the time, and we don’t even notice it or they aren’t shown to the public. But I am sure Microsoft didn’t do this to actually start this scandal I think it was just a careless mistake they did. But even if this was a mistake, Microsoft should realize that altering photos isn’t the best way to solve these problems. In a way this was an offensive action against the black people, so they should make sure something like this never happens again. Therefore by preventing this their company won’t be named or targeted as being involved with racism.
I don’t think that replacing a man of one race with a man of another race in an ad is necessarily a racist act but it does bring up controversy. Every advertisement in the world is marketed toward a certain group of people and those people pay more attention to an ad that they can relate to. Because the majority of people in Poland are white, I don’t see any problem with using white people in ads to get a message across. When you want to reach a target audience, it only makes sense to use images that the target is somewhat accustomed to, unless however the point of the ad is to portray a shocking message that makes people uncomfortable and/or makes people really think.
If you’re trying to reach people of any gender or any race, I think it is beneficial to have a diverse group of people in an ad. If race wasn’t an issue, companies could advertise a group of people that were all one race, in a community of a completely different race, and there would be no problem. But culture ties right in the race, and different races have different views, values, and attitudes. Yes, different races all mesh together, more and more each day, and we’re all human beings and should all be considered equal, but we ARE different.
I think that Microsoft made a big mistake by using Photoshop to edit the image, especially without finishing it. It’s unnatural to have a white man with one black hand and it just freaks people out. People start to assume this editing was because of racism but I think it’s just kind of funny. I personally would not change the race of one person in an ad, but I do understand why advertisements have different people of different race, gender, age, etc. Maybe Microsoft should have just taken another photograph with other models.
I read a few other posts and I agree with a few people regarding American culture. Companies try very hard to not be racist but in a way this portrays even more racism. The media has somewhat of an obligation to include minorities to make everyone happy by making sure they show diversity. I agree that this staged act is ridiculous.
I don’t even think this ad would be very effective in today’s advertising world. I’m surprised that Microsoft put so much consideration into small details, such as the race of the models, and didn’t put as much thought into the entire advertisement itself. The ad looks very fake and cheesy and whoever decided to edit the black man into a white man also had a fake, unrealistic approach. Microsoft should probably hire a new advertising team.
I don’t think that replacing a man of one race with a man of another race in an ad is necessarily a racist act but it does bring up controversy. Every advertisement in the world is marketed toward a certain group of people and those people pay more attention to an ad that they can relate to. Because the majority of people in Poland are white, I don’t see any problem with using white people in ads to get a message across. When you want to reach a target audience, it only makes sense to use images that the target is somewhat accustomed to, unless however the point of the ad is to portray a shocking message that makes people uncomfortable and/or makes people really think.
If you’re trying to reach people of any gender or any race, I think it is beneficial to have a diverse group of people in an ad. If race wasn’t an issue, companies could advertise a group of people that were all one race, in a community of a completely different race, and there would be no problem. But culture ties right in the race, and different races have different views, values, and attitudes. Yes, different races all mesh together, more and more each day, and we’re all human beings and should all be considered equal, but we ARE different.
I think that Microsoft made a big mistake by using Photoshop to edit the image, especially without finishing it. It’s unnatural to have a white man with one black hand and it just freaks people out. People start to assume this editing was because of racism but I think it’s just kind of funny. I personally would not change the race of one person in an ad, but I do understand why advertisements have different people of different race, gender, age, etc. Maybe Microsoft should have just taken another photograph with other models.
I read a few other posts and I agree with a few people regarding American culture. Companies try very hard to not be racist but in a way this portrays even more racism. The media has somewhat of an obligation to include minorities to make everyone happy by making sure they show diversity. I agree that this staged act is ridiculous.
I don’t even think this ad would be very effective in today’s advertising world. I’m surprised that Microsoft put so much consideration into small details, such as the race of the models, and didn’t put as much thought into the entire advertisement itself. The ad looks very fake and cheesy and whoever decided to edit the black man into a white man also had a fake, unrealistic approach. Microsoft should probably hire a new advertising team.
I think that whoever used photoshop to replace the black man’s head is absolutely ridiculous. Who cares if it’s in Poland, I mean really. Do they have Asians there? Because I’m pretty sure than the other man on the far left is definitely not “white.” But am I being racist too? What about the head marketing and advertising people of Microsoft in Europe, no, the entire world? They should be ashamed that this ad was changed. There are all different races of people everywhere, from Alaska to Argentina to Zimbabwe to the Philippines. Sure there are various concentrations of race within our world, but isn’t everybody everywhere anyway? I think that in a company as large as this one the ads should be standardized then events like this wouldn't happen. Just because there are less non white people in Poland doesn't mean that there aren’t any black people. Maybe Polish people just plain don't like black people. That’s their own loss. There wouldn't be peanut butter without George Washington Carver, you know. Basically, Poland and any other country that has an extremely prevalent race are missing out on what these “other races” can bring to society as PEOPLE, not as blacks or Asians or Hispanics. If whoever made this as even thinks about playing the “you’re racist against my kind” card I’d honestly be disgusted. Just because YOU don't decide to live in an area with other people than your own does not mean that WE are persecuting you. Sure, it could be your culture to stay close to your people because that's who you can identify with, but isn’t it everyone’s? Other cultures and races and ethnicities exist throughout the world with each other, and it’s working. Altercations and disagreements are inevitable in any society, regardless of whether or not there are different races present. I really think that this person should watch Remember the Titans or something. They’d be in culture shock for the better part of a week, yes, but maybe it would put an idea in their head. Or maybe Sam should go over there for another 2 months and go on tour or something. Who knows what would help this issue, or if anything would. Sam’s even said we are something like 99.99% the same. Everyone in the world has .01% difference. 99.99% {almost} 7 billion of us have the same genetic information in every cell of our bodies. If the odds or chances or whatever else were that high in any other situation, wouldn't you take it and accept it as entirely true? Most people would. It’s unfortunate that our society is so focused on that .01%. Sure it's on the outside where everyone can see it, but isn’t it what’s on the inside that builds any type of relationship? Basically, I don't care if Poland is prevalently white. Suck it up and put a black man on the advertisement and accept that races and people other than you exist on this planet, and they aren’t going anywhere.
First of all I am astonished that this ad came out with this error in the first place. How can no one have noticed it through editing? It is way more offensive that they did not make the switch correctly, than that they made the switch at all. I do not have a problem with companies switching the ethnicity of the advertising actor to match the particular demographic; however, I do feel it is offensive when it goes to being photo shopped. If it were a picture of a different man, wearing a different suit jacket, with a different posture, then I would have no problem with this. In fact, I feel that it is a good idea to change the person according to the demographic area. The purpose of a marketing team is to get as many customers as possible to have interest in purchasing their product. If marketing studies find that a red house is more appealing than a blue one, then the will obviously go with the red one. Likewise, if the marketing team estimates that a white man will attract more customers than a white man, then they will obviously go with the white man. This principle is basic capitalism. I don’t believe that Microsoft is being racist in changing the skin color of the person in the in the commercial. As a matter of fact I think the racism lies in the fact that it will sell more products by changing the skin color. It is completely terrible that people will view a commercial differently because of the color of the man’s skin in the commercial. I could understand if people viewed a commercial differently if one man was wearing a t-shirt and the other man was wearing a suit, or even if one man was Michael Jordan and the other was average Joe. In this commercial it was essentially the same man, wearing the same thing, doing the same gestures, they just changed the skin color.
After viewing this article I got me thinking about how often the skin color of the man varies from product to product. There are plenty of companies that often use several different ethnic backgrounds in their commercials such as McDonalds or coca cola. However, there are several products with a distinguished figure that will almost exclusively be used to market this product. For instance, basketball shoes are almost always marketed by tall black men. Likewise, a commercial advertising Hollister will usually display good looking white people. In the end I don’t have a problem with this changing the actors for the commercials as long as it is for the purpose of making the maximum amount of profit for the company. The only problem that I had with this Microsoft commercial was the fact that they photo shopped the white man’s into the black man’s body. Had Microsoft used two different people, then I would have no problem.
After reading this article I had very mixed emotions. There were so many issues that surfaced from this situation. Microsoft being such a huge corporation that is very lucrative in profit, I found it very hard to believe that a mistake of that magnitude would occur. A corporation of such great caliber should have an advertisement team that should have been on top of the finished product before it was put out to the public. If you’re going to such a drastic change every detail needs to be thoroughly examined. It honestly was such a foolish mistake that could have been avoided. Maybe if the focus was on something positive mistakes like that would not have occurred if they would have taken their time. If they had been paying attention to the details their real intent might not have been exposed. But everything happens for a reason and this definitely happened so that situations like this one could not go overlooked. Honestly I don’t feel that what Microsoft’s advertisement team did was racist. Marketing requires you to address a particular group of people that you want to market to, to buy a product. I don’t feel what they did was right but I understand their reason for doing it. It is unfortunate that we live in a world that bases everything on race. Naturally I feel that we all judge by the physical appearance of a person first because it’s what we see. Of course it would be ideal if we would get to know a person by their personality first and then base your judgment off of our encounters with that person. Also to not base every encounter you have with a person and generalize it to everyone of that same nationality. It is not fair to others who may be nothing like that particular person. People are people. Regardless of their skin, which at times can be a contributing factor to their behavior according to their upbringing and what they were surrounded by but nonetheless everyone is different. It’s also unfortunate that when it comes to the consumer market people only will buy what they feel pertains to their race. Yet I also feel that it comes down to it, it’s not about “black” or “white” it’s about “green.” Green, as in the mighty dollar that ultimately can bring any race together to accomplish a goal of making the most of it. It also at the same time makes the most sense. If you want to market a black hair care product you wouldn’t have a white person modeling their hair, it just doesn’t make the most sense. I think sometimes people just like to overreact to situations and make something out of nothing. Sometimes in life you have to look at the big picture. In America we are divided in race in our “melting pot,” but what really brings us all together is the common passion we have in our greed to have the American dream; wealth.
Personally, I do not think that Microsoft did anything wrong. They knew what their target audience was and they marketed their product to them. As humans, we have become entirely too dependent on political correctness, which has caused our culture to become too sensitive to race issues. In Poland, there are little to no black people, so why would Microsoft include black people in their advertisement? If a company decided to market a product to a primarily white society, I would expect them to include only white people in their advertisement. The same goes for primarily black, brown, yellow, etc. societies, why show people who are not members of your society enjoying a product that you are being encouraged to purchase? It is basic psychology and marketing, political correctness should not have been brought into the picture. In America we have people of all skin colors, so it makes sense for OUR ads to have people of all different races in our ads, but not in places such as Poland.
In the picture, the black man was photo shopped out. For some reason, his hands were not photo shopped, so the white man who was put into the ad had black hands. I believe that this was a mistake on the editor’s part. If he or she wanted to change the picture, they should have done a complete job rather than half assing it. If the editor had done his or her job properly, I doubt that anyone would have noticed that the picture had been doctored.
Honestly, I am confused at how people discovered this discrepancy. Did someone from America travel to Poland and notice this ad and say “Wait a second, I saw this ad in America and that man was black!” because if so, that person really has no life that they would travel to another country and rather than see the sights, pay attention to Microsoft’s ad campaign. Even if that is the case, why did they feel the need to cause so much controversy over it? As I said before, it is simple psychology and marketing. Microsoft was trying to advertise to a certain demographic. They were more concerned with making a profit in another country than appeasing the racial needs of the world. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with this because they were just looking for money. The world is very corrupt nowadays and as the saying goes, “Cash is king.”
A corporation should not have to appease the sensitivities of America in other countries. Even thinking about that is ludicrous. In my opinion, if you are seriously offended by what Microsoft did, you can always not buy their products. Apple has made quite the comeback this decade.
Unfortunately racism is still a major component of our society today; hatred and bigotry will probably never cease to exist in the world. Though, I do not think that this Microsoft advertisement is an example of racism. There are a countless number of ways for a person or group to commit acts of racism, but substituting a white man for a black man in an advertisement in an effort to appeal to the audience is not one of them.
In the United States there always seems to be a mixture of races and genders in ads, just because it is the politically correct thing to do. There is always a white women or man and a women or man that is a minority. In some instances companies even find it necessary to put in a person with some type of disability (not like that is a bad thing or anything). That’s just the way that it’s done here in America. Not only is this seen as the correct way of doing things, but it also helps reach out to the other races in our society. Black people may not want to purchase a product if it is being shown as used by all white and Spanish people; it makes sense to include a black person in the ad as well so that they may be inclined to buy whatever is being advertised. This is why it makes sense to have all white people in an ad if it is being shown in country with little ethnic diversity like Poland.
If there is such a small percentage of persons of color in Poland, than why bother even showing one in an ad? The fact that Microsoft realized this is not racist at all; it is simply an intelligent marketing move that they made. Leaving the black man in the ad for a country that has a small amount of black people in it is pretty pointless in my opinion. It probably would not have hurt the ad but at the same time I don’t think that it would have helped it either. I mean why would they have a Chinese man in an ad in a country like Mexico or Brazilian man in a country like Norway? It is better to just keep the actors as the majority of a country that is so dominated by a certain race.
I am aware that my opinion on this matter may only be because I am a white male. A person of color may indeed find what Microsoft did to be very offensive and distasteful. If that is in fact the case than I feel sorry for those people because I believe that this is the way this country will always be.
I agree with many of the other blog postings that companies make their advertisements to market to a specific audience. It’s called their target audience and that method works very well. Companies specifically aim their ads to their target audience and we see it all the time, but we just don’t notice it. One example that I have noticed is while I was on the NJ Transit train going to New York City, and I can see all the advertisements that are on the benches at the different train stations. All the Met Life ads at many stops were of either black or white people. Then when the train stops at the Edison train station which is largely an Indian community and the ad included an Indian person. Another example is if you go into China town in New York City for example, all the advertisements and signs are either only in Chinese or English and Chinese. I do agree that in Los Angeles and Miami companies include actors of a certain race in their advertisements. I do not agree with this method but it increases profit and that is what business is all about. If companies did not worry about money then there would be zero unemployment in this world, but sadly it is not like that.
Microsoft is just unlucky because they got caught and now they will have to pay for it. Yes, some people will get fired and that is just how things go in business. It especially sucks because this is not the time you want to make mistakes on such a big stage where future employment is questionable. I still think it is absolutely ridiculous that Microsoft felt that they should change the skin color of the actor because it would hurt their sales if they didn’t. I don’t think that citizens in Poland will buy another product instead of Microsoft because the advertisement had one black person. Now, that they have been caught will probably cause a decrease in sales in Poland and probably all around the world. Microsoft prides itself on being a world leader in computer technology and they make mistakes like this. Honestly, they should not have to worry about minor details because that really would not affect their bottom line.
It really is sad that people would base their buying preferences on the advertisements on the box. I can understand if people would not buy from companies that were involved with child labor, sweatshops, discrimination, or pollution. I agree with jsmith8282 about when I go to buy something from the store, I don’t really look at the advertisement on the box or anything. My purchases are based on the quality and price of the product.
One of the first thing marketers may look at when advertising any product is the demographic they are advertising to. The United State is by far one of the most diverse countries in the world with a wide array of cultures and people. In Microsoft’s ad for Americans we see an Asian male, a black male, and a white female, this is a very good attempt at covering as many demographics as possible. Poland is nowhere near being as diverse as the United States, so by making a strategic marketing decision and taking out the black man and replacing him with a white man, Microsoft is now targeting their intended demographic more effectively.
The goal of a business is to make profit; marketing is used to help that company achieve its goal of earning profit. A good marketing campaign will get word out to potential customers and help sell whatever product a company may sell, in this case Microsoft is trying to sell computer software. As a business Microsoft was not wrong in doing research and finding what out what Americans may find appealing in an advertisement and what Polish people may find appealing in an advertisement. Company’s do this all the time, for example in the United States we always see Americans advertising clothing products, but if we were to travel to a country like India we would see Indians modeling the same clothing, it all depends on what the customer will want to see.
What’s different about the Microsoft ad is that the black mans face was blatantly cropped out. As an elite worldwide corporation Microsoft should have had the foresight to see that in this day and age anything they do will get noticed. They should also have the foresight to see what they are doing maybe controversial and could start a firestorm. Microsoft probably found it more cost effective to just crop out the black man and place the white man in the picture, but in the end it is costing them more. If Microsoft was to do this advertisement correctly they should have traveled to Poland and used all Polish people in the ad.
In the end what Microsoft did is not blatant racism, it was just a bad business move. The marketing department thought they were doing a good job at targeting their demographic, but in the end it came back to hurt them. Microsoft was doing what they thought would make as much profit as possible, which is what a good business does, in this case though Microsoft should have realized everything they do will be scrutinized because they are such a large worldwide corporation. The fact that they cropped out the black mans head was not blatant racism but just blatant stupidity.
The Microsoft advertising debacle created by using Photoshop is blatantly a form of racism. While this is, in my opinion, racism, I do not believe the corporation as a whole is racist. Marketing is a difficult job when dealing with very large and diverse groups. The goal of any marketing campaign is to have your company or product be recognized in a way that the observer can relate with your product. As you may know, West Virginians are much different than say Californians. Microsoft’s mistake lies in taking the easy way out. Had they made regional advertisements for their ad campaign using different actors or ethnicities, instead of Photoshopping the head of a black man onto a white body, not much would’ve been said because it is more of a corporate norm to do so. As an example, McDonalds is trying to reach out to the urban community and prides itself on its diversity. With their ad campaigns, they tend to use a lot of hip hop background music and black actors in order to achieve this. If they were to use white actors with some country music, it wouldn’t be nearly as appealing to that audience. So while Microsoft had a clear lapse in judgment that was obviously financially related, their true intentions were no different than many other fortune 500 companies.
The clear issue at stake here is that people as a whole need to change their stereotypes of race. There is no reason companies should have to make several different ads just to sell their products. In the United States, three Mexicans selling a product probably would not work. There is no reason for this to be the case. People hold racial biases based off of usually nothing at all. After September 11, Muslims faced widespread scrutiny and racism in the US even though many of them were US citizens. Many of the people holding these racist views probably have never met any Muslims before. My view on racism is that it is a learned behavior. By exposing yourself around people that hold racist views, either family or friends, is a way many people become racist themselves. If people can learn to accept one another based off of actions instead of “judging a book by its cover” then situations like the Microsoft Photoshop scandal would never occur.
Microsoft needs to take strong corrective action in order to maintain a diversified public image. If I were the CEO of Microsoft, I would begin a campaign to bring technology down to the lower classes instead of businesses and the upper middle class. By teaming up with a computer provider such as Dell and releasing new, lower end computers equipped with full Windows Vista capability to low-income families could help those families become better off. They could also create a program that helps teach beginners the basics on how to use a computer and include it with package. By having computer access, those low-income families could become computer literate which is a must for many positions in the corporate world. I would also let go of the head of the marketing department for leading such a blatantly racist advertising campaign. While Microsoft is not an individual racist business, it shows just how far away we are as a society that Microsoft would need to go to these lengths to sell their products.
I think that there are two sides to this Microsoft situation. On one hand, you can see why the change was made. However, the other side says that it is wrong to remove the black man from the ad just because it is a polish ad. For me, I don’t really see a problem with focusing your ad on your target customers. After all, that is what advertising is all about, knowing your audience and tailoring your product towards them.
Where the problem lies, in my opinion, is that they simply photo shopped a head on the body. I don’t think there is anything wrong with changing your ads towards your specific audience. My problem with it is that they didn’t take a new person to do the ad. If they were to shoot the same photo, but with an actual person in the middle, rather than changing the heads, I think it would be much more acceptable. After all, Microsoft’s goal is to sell their products, not change the views of Polish people towards blacks. I don’t think that it should be considered racist just because Microsoft changed the man in the middle. They realized who their audience was and tried to suit them the best they could. If they felt that having a black man in their ad would put a damper on their ability to sell their products, then they shouldn’t have to worry about backlash from the public.
Had Microsoft taken the time to shoot a new photo, for each country’s ad, I truly believe that they would be vindicated in this whole thing. But, the fact that they were lazy and simply photo shopped the photo leaves the door open to criticism. For such a large and powerful company like Microsoft, you would expect better from them. You do not expect companies like that to make any kind of simple error that could cause public debate. However, these days, with the Internet nothing gets by people. Halfway across the world, Microsoft’s ad in Poland is being compared with the one in the United States. The truth is, they should have been more careful.
The ad definitely should not be considered racist though. In an attempt to reach and tailor towards their audience, they did it poorly. It was poor judgment by the company, but I don’t believe that they were being racist. If there are no black people in Poland, then why would they put a black man in their ad? If people were going to look down upon the company for including a black man in their ad, then how would that benefit the company in any way? The real problem may be that the people of Poland are racist, but the ad certainly doesn’t reflect that in my opinion. Maybe the focus should be on why Microsoft had to alter their ad for Poland. Are blacks so looked down upon there that Microsoft felt the need to change their ad? I think the real focus should be on racism in Poland, rather than in the Microsoft Company. Yes, it was an error in judgment by Microsoft to lazily swap the heads on the two ads, rather than shoot a new one, but it is generating criticism for the wrong reasons. That is just my opinion on the situation.
I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised at this whole thing. Companies do what they gotta do to sell product. I’m sure that once the idea was brought up, someone at Microsoft weighed the options and decided that the fallout if they were caught wouldn’t outweigh the sales boost from taking out the black dude. Really, the whole thing was obviously last minute, they couldn’t even be bothered the change the hands. I guess what I’m about to say sounds a little callous, but I wouldn’t ever go so far as to call this racism. I mean, the black dude still got paid, didn’t he? Certainly, things would be different if this had happened here in America, but Poland, as far as I know, has no history of the kind of racism we saw here in America for decades. Black people are simply just not something that they’re used to, for lack of a better way to phrase it. Companies pay people ridiculous amounts of money to make these ads. It’s almost a science, and it just doesn’t seem to be particularly intelligent to include someone who makes up an almost negligible percentage of a population in an ad directed towards that population. It’d just be a waste of money. That’s not to say that money supersedes basic human compassion, but again, I don’t think the black dude who got the axe is losing any sleep over this stuff. The attitude should be, “Whatever. If they don’t want me in the ad, that’s fine.” But everyone seems to be up in arms over something that I’d say is pretty inconsequential. And now Microsoft has to make the PR rounds to prove that they don’t have discriminatory policies. The guy who decided to just replace the black dude should definitely be fired. Not because I think he’s a racist, but because he’s enough of an idiot not to just reshoot the commercial. That, I think, is what’s most surprising about this situation. A company as impossibly large as Microsoft was careless enough not only to drop the ball so fantastically with this Photoshop job, but to let it get out to the public. I mean, it’s obviously the kind of thing that can do a crapload of damage if it gets out, and that’s exactly what happened. They were lazy on every front; first in making the commercial, and then letting their dirty little secret slip out to the public. I get that some people are upset that race is even an issue in an advertisement, but it is. I don’t think culture, specifically American, has evolved to the point where it isn’t one. And until that happens, ads are going to cater to specific audiences, and in Poland the audience is pretty far from colored.
I am majoring in Public Relations/Advertising and this issue absolutely hit home for me. When one is creating an advertisement, they are instructed and advised to gear it towards a specific demographic. This can definitely affect the success of an advertisement but shouldn’t be racially discriminating. I believe that Microsoft did not mean this at all in a racist manner, but I do believe that it was wrong to just cut and paste a different head on to the black man’s body in order to better appeal to Polish consumers.
Though Poland is predominately white, we live in a multi-cultural world, not to mention the 21st century. Therefore, having a colored man in an advertisement geared towards Polish people should NOT be an issue. I personally do not think that the Polish audience of this Microsoft ad would be turned away from buying any Microsoft product just because there was a black man in the advertisement.
Also, if the Microsoft advertisers claim to have cut out the black man’s head only due to demographical reasons, why wouldn’t they also replace his hands or even the Asian man’s head? Why would they remove one race and not the other? I feel as though this is the reason this advertisement came off as racist. In this day and age, why are we singling out a specific race? Did these advertisers really feel that the Polish people would be turned away from a black man in an ad?
This way of thinking, by the Microsoft advertisers, is rather ridiculous. Being a white woman, I have never looked at an ad and decided not to buy something because my ethnic group isn’t represented in the particular ad. Many Americans would feel the same way about this issue. It almost highly expected that a copious amount of genders and ethic groups would be represented in the ads geared toward our American culture.
I am aware that all cultures are different. Polish viewpoints may differ from our American perspective, but I feel as though this attempt at “political correctness” is simply racist. Microsoft tries to fix this mistake my stating, “The white head and black hand actually symbolize interracial harmony.” This statement makes me laugh, they are just trying to cover up the oversight of not changing his hand – and desperately trying to create a reason for it.
In order to avoid this racial situation, the Microsoft advertisers should have just taken an entirely different picture. In their attempt to gain more sales from different countries with different demographics – they have put themselves in a horrible predicament that will most likely affect sales (I’m not sure how major), but now they have to explain and defend their actions and make up a variety of excuses as to why this happened in the first place. I feel as though Microsoft should re-evaluate their moral standards and make it their first priority to make these standards and their marketing ploys go hand-in-hand.
Microsoft”
I can imagine that Microsoft changes the black people to a white people; the person that put the photo forgets to change the hand. My opinion is that any person can do something by the way. Racist can’t be working in this famous company; also if they are working the company goes down. I think when the black people knows about this situation they get really angry because is the most raw thing that I heard in this time. This photo maybe can be a photo shopping because many people can do these things because someone wants to affect Microsoft. When I heard about this story I was surprised because anybody have the rights to change others photos. I think that Microsoft don’t want to find the person how make this race. If Microsoft fined this what they do? At this time this accident is not god for the companies and the reputation that they have can change in the last second. If I am this black guy and someone change my face for other people because they not like me “color” I make something to find justice. I want to know something that’s I think is important because what happen if the two people that are next to the black guy are part of this racism. If it is true what’s happen whit Microsoft? They know when they change the picture everybody knows what they do. I think the reason because they change his face is because in Poland most of the people are White, so I think this is the reason because they change the black guy to white. I think this is racism because if they don’t what a photo of the black guy why they invite to go to Poland. In my opinion all Poland’s are racist because if someone comes to visit Poland and they have different color what they do “change his colors” that no fear for anybody. If the guy just goes to do his work so he is god in his work they can’t make bad things to the black guy or anybody. What happen with all people that think that color or culture is the most important thing for make relation with other person? I know that everybody is the same with any color we have. My conclusion of these keys is if the black just get offended the Poland’s and Microsoft need to give a god excuse and a big present for the black guy. That’s what I think about this situation because I can’t say is fun when I totally disagree with this situation because is not fear what the Poland’s and Microsoft does with the black guy.
There are a number of different points of views that can be looked upon with this article. I personally think that when Microsoft edited the black man’s head to that of a white man, they didn’t think that people would notice it. If you looked at the photoshopped picture without looking at or having any knowledge of the original, chances are you wouldn’t know that there is a difference because it is not noticeable. But because the difference was noticed, some people are trying to clean it up and claim that they are trying to reach out to all demographics saying that a person can be white and black at the same time, which to me sounds like foolishness. If that was the case then they would have kept the black man’s face and made his hand white so that it is more noticeable.
In the story it says that some bloggers suggested that “Microsoft was attempting to please all markets by having a man with both a white face and a black hand.” To me this statement is a joke because the picture also contained an Asian man and a white woman so why would you need another white person in the picture with just the hand being black? This makes no sense whatsoever.
Some might look at is as Microsoft was trying to appeal to the audience that they were selling their product to. Since the polish-culture is predominantly white, the audience would feel more comfortable and buy the product if the people advertised in it were similar to them. A good point that was brought up was the fact that “companies shift their advertising to appeal to different markets all the time.” Examples were given such as you wouldn’t put a heterosexual married couple on the cover of a LGBT magazine, and people of different races would be put on advertisements according to the area, like a Hispanic model would advertise for Miami while a black model would advertise for Memphis. But if that is the case, why put an Asian man in the picture? Limiting the racial factor in this advertisement is very narrow-minded and I believe that if you have more of a variety of race in the ad then it would broaden the sales of the product, because some black people might look at it and by not seeing a black person in the picture might not buy the product. This is not the case with most people but it could be with some.
One blogger mentioned that it probably a careless mistake by Microsoft, meaning that they forgot to edit the hand to make it white. If that is the case, then whoever forgot that should definitely get fired; how could you forget something like that. I don’t believe that this was the situation however because I don’t’ think that a huge company like Microsoft would make such a careless mistake like that.
When I read the article I totally went WOW!! How can Microsoft would make a stupid mistake like that. I just could not believe they would to that. It was so simple enough to see it. How can other people notice? And they did not notice until they posted it? I don’t want to say that they did it just to be racism but it just makes me think that. I think they just only want white people on their business. I think that they really have to understand that other diversity people can also be in big business like that. They should stop been racism to other color people. Why would they want to remove a black person from their aid?? That’s my biggest question. We have to give the opportunities to different diversity people. I know we all can do it if we set our mind to it. This country is all diverse now. We all have the chance and opportunity to change the world or do something in life. I want to understand why they think only white people may want to buy it. Others can need it to and want to buy it as well. I do understand that they are the only ones who advertise it. They pretty much saying that black people do not advertise. The company should be more careful when changing ads. If they want to appeal to potential buyers they should make sure that the advertisement looks perfect before it goes out and the public see it. Why would they change only his face and not his hand? Changing someone else face for another one and different color that it just so wrong. I wonder what the black man has to say about changing his face for a white face. I understand that in Poland there are no other ethnicity people and they are not use to see other ethnicity people. They should do something different is not that the black people are going to do something to them. It is not like in other countries that there is a lot of different groups of ethnicity. We all know that most of the white people advertise more than any other ethnicity. It is kind off racism that they still change his face one because he is not white, they took his talent away, and they think the other color can not advertise. Can it be discrimination?? I wonder when the world is going to change in racism. In conclusion, I believe that it is racist because they changed the black man’s face without changing the color of his hand. I do not like the fact that they always make colored people less important than the white people, especially Polish.
I chose to focus my journal entry on the blog entry, “Political Correctness or Blatant Racism?”. Expanding on thoughts from my previous journal entry regarding, “Race and Advertising – We’re in a New World Now,” advertising is about identifying and understanding the target market as to relate to those consumers or relay a message to those consumers and for the consumers to be able to relate that message and want to purchase the product or service being pitched. Since we can best relate to those we are most comfortable with or most familiar with, it is appropriate to replace the black man in the American Microsoft ad with the white man in the Polish Microsoft ad. Although we in America, a country consisting of an infusion of the cultures and ethnicities of the world, have the opportunity to be regularly exposed to diversity, people in other countries don’t have that luxury and don’t have the opportunity to rid themselves of the ignorance they have of other cultures simply because they are not exposed to them on a daily basis.
For instance, why do we have a Race Relations class at Penn State? Of course, for sociology students learning to investigate the dynamics of society in a county made up of many colors, this is important, but how is this class important to everyone else? In a purely Utilitarian sense, under the assumption that Penn State’s primary goal is to make money by educating students who grow up to become successful in their careers, have a high salary, donate to the University, and send their children to the University, a Race and Ethnic Relations class exists because it will help us better function in the working world. We need to understand and respect the other cultures and ethnicities we come across in the workplace in order to be successful and versatile in our careers. In other countries, that may not be the case because they are not immersed in the kind of diversity we are, whether in upper class suburbs or low-income rural or urban areas. Because diversity has become apart of our everyday lives, it would be dishonest and out of place not to have a person of color or some diversity in an advertisement in the USA. In America, I can see a car insurance commercial starring and narrated by a black man and think nothing of it, but if a person in Poland saw that, to them it would seem out of place and forced. It’s dishonest to have a black man in that boardroom in a Polish ad because in Poland it is unlikely that a person of color would be in that boardroom; that’s not by means of racism or prejudice or achievement gap but by shear lack of diversity in color.
If a Polish person were to see a black person in that ad, it would be like watching a movie with bad acting; you can tell it’s fake and you fall out of the world the filmmaker is supposed to create for you. Similarly, the message Microsoft is trying to relay would not get across because it would seem fake, forced, and pull the consumer out of the microcosmic world the advertiser is trying to create. It is not that a person of color is not worthy of being in that boardroom, but that in reality, it’s not realistic for a person of color to be in that boardroom in Poland.
I notice two faults in my argument. One is that there is a man seemingly Asian on the left side of the photo. From my work experience, contracting and managing IT groups, an Asian person could be in that boardroom because of the aggressive educational tracts in East Asia and because of the large East and South Asian/Indian population working in the IT field. The other fault is in the fact that the black man’s hand wasn’t changed. For one, it’s hardly noticeable and there could very well be hidden meaning in it – perhaps Microsoft’s recognition of a black man in that boardroom in a more diverse society. Although I will not argue that racism, blatant or masked by political correctness is prevalent in advertising, this is simply a matter of relaying a clear message and acknowledging the reality of a predominantly white European culture.
When reading this article I had to analyze Microsoft’s advertisement from two different prospective. One was from the business/marketing strategy and the other was as a global consumer. Like most large corporations in the world Microsoft is after money and the best way to get money is to appeal to your customers. They know that marketing their product in a very comfortable way will be more appealing to their customers. Since there are different marketing regions, corporations must appeal to their customers in different ways. In this with Microsoft a black person’s head was chopped off only to have a white person’s head put on the body. Only to not distract polish customers from buying Microsoft’s products. I do not believe it was the companies’ intention to cause a stir about diversity, because their main goal is to make money. To make money you have to be familiar with your products and the makeup of the costumers, who would generally use them.
As a consumer I am looking at a commercial for its product, not for the contents of the companies marketing scheme. The job of the company is to make me more familiar with the product and also to make me aware of its benefits for my life. Companies like Microsoft should not be focused on making their customers feel at ease about advertisements with that look like them when they look at their reflections in the mirror.
I do not want to say that there is a right or wrong way to market to specific an ethnic group. Marketing should be about sealing the product and the product only and not about being politically correct. The more these companies try to be politically correct the more likely they draw lines and discontinue the progress that has been made. In conclusion these advertisement draw racial boundaries because the main point here is that the company just wants to consider the races of people who will buy the most products so they can make more money.
First off, I would like to address the THON comment. It is not Penn State’s fault that THON is one of the whitest things you’ve ever seen. THON does not exclude people of color. I think the question would be, why haven’t THEY done something to get involved. I think out of the four years I’ve been canning I could count on one hand the number of times I have had anyone who is white throw money into my can. I think certain people need to stop being selfish and stop pointing the finger at white people. Seriously why is it so easy to always point the finger of blame? Now to address the main topic, the photograph, I honestly do not see what the big deal is, and why everyone made such a big deal about the photo. So what they changed the man from a black man’s face to a white man’s face. Although I think if the change was made they needed to be a little more conscious and change the hand too. As a communications major I know what it takes to appeal to certain populations when it comes to advertising and marketing. Would you ever have an Asian man in an advertisement geared to white people? No. The point of good marketing and advertising is to appeal to your audience, and grab their attention. Make your consumers feel like you are actually speaking to them. So since this is the mail goal of advertising which most people should know, or anyone that does not live under a rock. With that being said I think it was a smart marketing ploy to change the black man’s face to a white man’s for the polish community. I do not consider it racist, nor would I be offended. I think people need to learn to just relax. It is not racist people just like to blow things completely out of proportion, and draw even more negative attention to themselves. One thing I have noticed is it is always black people that have issues with race and racism. Well how about this question, don’t you think it is a little racist that every one of these blogs that pertains to race is always about a black person? How about the Asian community or Hispanic community? Why don’t we ever focus on some of the other races and the injustices they face. Regardless of the race of the gentlemen in photo, though I would still stand by my original statement. It is not racism it is good marketing and advertising. I think it is important to pick your battles and realize that not everything in this world is done with the intention of insulting black people. I mean what are they thinking everyone has a personal vendetta against them?
Can't deal with elevating without diving in to dealing with the rogue culture of reckless use of words that subtly fan racial flames while in denial of it. Listen: http://youtu.be/MAuTB3zQBHc
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