Aug 26 2009Microsoft's Questionable Photoshop Job

Moo

I love how they didn't even bother with his hand

His hand´s still black :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX4PGhGLQjM&feature=related

Haha, they still used the Black guys body and just changed the head!
Also... is he using a Mac? LOL

@3 I didn't even notice LOL thanks for pointing that out?

Its the same now, -_-

he is definitely using a mac, AND his hand is black... maybe the title of this post should be Microsoft's Questionable Photoshop Job... oh wait!

So, since we are dealing with Microsoft shenanigans this morning, perhaps you all can help me out. My 120 gig zune just decided to become an expensive paperweight. I need a new mp3 player. Since this IS geekologie I figure I can get some help with what doesn't suck balls. Thanks. deadbodyman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BVjRVoAPQo

*laugh* They changed it back to the old one, but the old one has a much smaller text box. Now the Polish flows outside of the textbox.

@9 One of the classic ipod's if you have absolutely shitloads of music is quite good and pretty cheap now i think, when i say classic i mean the revamped ones that have stupid amounts of storage

That's funny because I was thinking the guy's head looks fake in BOTH photos.

...but, the Polish site has the same pic. Did MS change it back, or is this just a smear job that no one bothered to fact check?

dude, double-u tee eff?

ZOMG!!! how could someone use a picture like that, my photoshop teacher would cry T-T if he sees this, watch some videos on youtube on to use photoshop first

this is a fake! it's a total photo-shop job. it's like that time on sixteen candles when bobby asked luanne for a blowjob and she obliged.

@ 9

there are so many ipods out now, that you can find a pretty reasonably priced one. the 2nd gen. touch is $215 for an 8. the 16 is about $275.

if your a college student, and you buy a macbook, you get an ipod for free :D:D that's what I'm doing

....i wonder what daisy will say.....

Fake

What I find worse than the fact that they did this in the first place is that they are effectively saying to all Polish people "Good day! We understand you to be terrible racists. We know how you feel. That's why we no longer allow black men in our conference rooms. Wanna buy an IT tool?"

Also, that photoshop job is poor. Seriously, it looks like something South Park would include for a joke. I keep expecting its mouth to start flapping about.

"Hey guy, you need relax, fella."

LMAO. Yeah, they changed that shit ASAP!
You know someone who's a geekologie follower at Microsoft was sitting at their desk, sipping on their coffee, and then came across this post.
With a huge spewing of coffee and flem onto the computer screen, there was a call up to "Doug, The Head" and shit got changed :P

you think that is racist, i saw this the other night and it totally pissed me off...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUXERAFcK5U

real

this is totally real

this is just like that scene in...........

...NM SCREW IT I DONT HAVE IT IN ME ANYMORE

First of all I would like to say that the black guy in the first picture looks suspiciously like Nelson Mandela. Second, @17 I pretty much hate you instantly for that comment for a couple of reason.

1. I don't even really care for Daisy's comments though sometimes they are mildly humorous.
2. It's an unoriginal idea even though I realize it says "Photoshop" in the title and you little brain went racing for something funny and witty to say, but instead what we got was that crap about Sixteen Candles.
3. It was even mildly funny.

how many geekoloie writer it takes to publish a working link ? ( error in second one )

here are the correct links:

US Link
http://www.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/default.mspx

Poland Link
http://www.microsoft.com/poland/businessproductivity/default.mspx

Opps, wrong poland link, doesn't work unless I tinyurl it...

http://tinyurl.com/nkh6tc

@18

Thanks for the advice. I might have to get over my mac aversion and tell microsoft to get bent.

They've changed it now.. :(

@Rich Waffle-U - we just dont have much black people living here and it would be just STUPID to have one in an ad - just like in iceland, russia etc ;]

@fake GLiTCH (#28)

No one likes your youtube links so stop....

just kiddin, that link is good

http://tinyurl.com/nkh6tc

The thing is that there is NO BLACK PEOPLE in Poland (well… maybe you would find two hundred... or less…). So it is just irrelevant to show black people here and it is not about the racism, it is more about the culture of particular country.

Anyways… yeah... it is funny as hell. But I complete do not get your joke about Poles using computers. I would even more appreciate it if you removed it, because it is not geeky, it’s just retarded.

Note:

Steve Wozniak – Polish decent,

Results of INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIAD IN INFORMATICS (IOI):
2008 in Cairo: 3rd place - Marcin Koscielnicki, Poland
2007 in Zagreb 1st place - Tomasz Kulczyński, Poland
2006 in Merida – 1st place - Filip Wolski, Poland

International Collegiate Programming Contest, organized by Association for Computing Machinery:
2007, 1st place – Students from Warsaw University, Poland

Google Code Jam 2009:
25 out of 43 participants who qualified to final round in Callifornia from qualification group: Europe + Middle East + Africa are Polish.

;-)

@33
If you are gonna fake to me might as well use the same damn "You site's URL:" feild, gawd, bunch of amateur trolls running around here...

lol They left his hand, This is not good for microsoft

Im Polish, and this officially made my name. Thank you Geekologie!

Geekologie Writer doesn't even know how to embed links in his own blog.
FAIL!

It looks like Photo Hunt: Racist Edition.

FAKE!!!!

This is a complete photoshop job. You can tell its a fake because the shadow's are all wrong.

This is exactly like that scene in the movie NEver BAck Down where Max built 2 phone booths that would transport matter from one place to another. He tried it on a monkey, but unfortunately he made a mistake and it rematerialized inside out.

they already changed it back lol

btw i would give a better/closer example of countries (like ukraine) but im afraid that you would even know what that is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE ;]

@Daisy - get a brain ;]

haha the lighting doesn't even match, the two original people are being softly lit from the right while the black-white man is being harshly lit from the left.... I can't believe they thought this wasn't noticeable.

@34

I, for one, think Polish jokes are hilarious. I'm glad GW took the time out of his busy schedule to put that gem in there.

What a bad work !!! The new guy has an enormous head !!!

I noticed the Mac before the 'ole person switcheroo

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

Haha this story made yahoo!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tec_microsoft_poland_picture

"Diversity?" Ha ha. People are only different if they look different, doncha know.

the polish are so multicultural...they left the hand as is.... how sensible of them god bless them....dios los bendiga....神様

@44 yer would recommend getting an ipod classic i wish i could get a zune damn microsoft hopefully get zune hd if they bring them out over here

I got confused about the name of the electronic device I'm using right now.

FAKE! look at this its fake all the people look photoshopped and the text in the second picture isnt even in english. You're all idiots

aaahhheeee they changed it yey massive racist bastards

You've got to admit...it's a god photoshop job though

@ 34

Most jokes about stupid people in it's boundaries
Since time began - POLAND

Lol I think its hilarious they didn't remove the black guy's hand... so it just looks like the white dude has a severely tanned hand HAHA

34 - Too Polish to get the joke, eh?

So, no blacks allowed, but a mixed-asian is ok?

it's just not the same when it really is a crappy photoshop job.. i still love you tho daisy.. call me

Santo 34 is right. I've worked for European companies that did business in the U.S. and whenever we tried to use American photos of a diverse workforce these guys (all guys, mind you) from Central Europe would tell us that the images wouldn't work for them. They simply could not imagine a workforce with an Asian woman or a man of African descent sharing a conference table. Microsoft is not alone in doing this. They just got caught.

Haha i just went to their websites and the photoshopped one was changed to the original photo XD

they must have heard you, its changed to the un-shopped pic

No-one has actually looked back at the website because its the black guy again sorry dudes so FAIL on your part.

Omg my life is complete lol

I totally sent this in haha

It's not a matter of racism - it's just demographics. Anyone in advertising will understand this. There's a good chance that there's a very low percentage of Blacks in Poland and to make the photo more appealing to the target audience (and to sell more products and all that), they put in a white man - someone they can identify with. Not every country is as racially diverse as the states. It's like using a black woman to sell face cream to the Japanese in Japan - it doesn't make sense.

So if
A. any one of us could do a better photoshop job and
Bee. the actual site does not use the altered photo then
See. the whole thing is probably BS.

Dee. My dog can do a better photoshop job. Can't drive for sh*t though. He just pumps the pedals back and forth. "I've seen him pushin' on these things..." And the other dog just stands on the seat, paws on the wheel yelling "Make it go! Make it go!".

"It's like using a black woman to sell face cream to the Japanese in Japan - it doesn't make sense. "

So.. black men can't use computers in Poland? :S

i can do better photo shop in my sleep but I do it constantly in uni , you should expect it better from Microsoft thought its pretty half a$$ed @67 this is every were first place i saw it was Fail blog I do think this is real I'm surprised its not on the news that's the only doubt if its real or not.

In the second photo the hand color has not been altered at all, so the white man has black hands.

The guy would have been swapped in a New Zealand ad too, i'd say, because
there are very few blacks in NZ (and i'm guessing Poland, too).
In America it would be odd if a major corporation used Maoris and Tongans to represent the American workforce in their major corporations advertising would it not?

The asian guy would stay in there because pretty much half of NZ is asian now.

LMFAO THE WHITE GUY STILL HAS BLACK HANDS XD

I think they changed it back now.

lies, LIES!!!!!

why wouldn't they photoshop the asian man if it was about race? HUH?

this ad is racist in at least two ways.

please note that the black dude and white chick both have computers to do their fancy business math on.

the Asian fellow is totally on paper and pen.... oriental stereotype anyone?!

he does not need a computer, he has the power of black framed glasses on his side.

I'm more offended that it's a female leading the conference... go cook my dinner and clean my room before I dot your eye. You can have some power in my company when you've got a Y chromosome... bitch/

hmf. as offensive as the photoshopping might be there is a lot to be said for demographics. even if you try to be inclusive and present a diverse workforce in a picture, it would make more sense in a polish ad to have two poles and a roma in there. an african american, an asian dude and a girl with a foot wide smile immediately reveals the pic as american and potentially even offensive since you've already shown how americans feel about poles. sorry.

I find the mac funnier actually.

and for once daisy is in step with reality. amazing.

The Polish photo-shopped ad also comes into play for the Antarctic region of the World, appearently there aren't many black people where the temputure drops below -50°F, come to think of it, I think there has only been about 65 Black professional hockey players ever. and of those 65, only 24 are active in the NHL, the rest are retired..
Factoid: there are 23 Hockey players that are of Black African decent..
Maybe it's because they have weak ankles?

You can't call that racist. You need to understand where this is coming from! Really, I don't wanna defend racists or something like this. BUT, there are hardly any colored people in Poland and adapting a product into another culture is called localization for a reason. You need to localize, to adapt it to certrain standards in the country. Why do you think there is a white woman, an Asian guy and a black one in the pic? Since this ad is made for the US with its diverse cultures. When it goes to Europe, especially to a country with almost none black people there, it would look wierd for them. Not in the racistic way, but because this is something they are not used to. Stupid that they didn't also change that Asian guy, but still. I can understand it, since I work in localization myslef.
It an add like this would go to an Arabic country, they would totally change the whole picture. If there are ads with blonds, they change them to brunets etc.

I agree it might seen strange to people without that knowledge, but that's definetly no racism! BELIEVE ME!

So we have established that Poland has few black people living there. The question remains, why didn't they just take another photo without black peoplein it if it would fit their target demographic better? I could understand if it was an expensive photo shoot, but it is in fact just a piss poor snap of some people having a chat in a conference room. I imagine the black guy originally photographed might be a bit annoyed that his noggin was covered over, escpecially with that mugging, oddly lit tard taking his place.

Maybe they had to take it? Some companies require to take the same pictures, but in localized versions?

pierdolich

I love how the chick's monitor isn't even plugged in and she's hitting the escape key on the keyboard that's not plugged into anything.

@58
Im like, full polish. My friend told me that, and i was kind of like "ok...?". I didnt really believed him, becuase he told me few jokes about poles that didnt make any sence what soever, and he laughed like crazy. So basicly, if someones too polish, like me, they wont get the stupidity joke about us, i guess? lmfao

Well done daisy! a sensible comment!

You people, like 67 cup-o-jesus, who thinks because the website shows the original photo again means that microsoft never used the photoshop image are morons.

What you say? You can change how pages look on the internets!!!???

Maybe a bullshit claim never happened, but it doesn't take much to confirm simple stuff like this, especially after someone has posted a link to a news story about the affair (see post 48). Also note that the text box no longer matches the size of the Polish text.

Morons.

Must See!!!

http://alturl.com/obg7
________________

@ Kara (Post#80) If that's the case why did they change the picture in the Polish website (http://www.microsoft.com/poland/businessproductivity/default.mspx//)?

Just to add one more thing to the discussion - if any of you actually worked in a global corporation like MS, he'd know that in most cases worldwide ad campaigns and all kinds of designs are being done by single team or a studio - they just receive different translations and put them in. So as a matter of fact I wouldn't be surprised if all thing was messed up by US or any other country (;

they must of changed it cause it's the same on both sites now

@4, 10, 23, 28, 33, etc....
Frank,
It's been like 5 days, and ur hits are still <400. Give it a rest, man. No one likes youtube links!

You can see the blurr spot behind the "new" white guys head! Cheap!!

the white photoshop job looks way too excited about the presentation.... they both look fake anyways and a mac? good work micro

Either this website is full of shit or microsoft is really quick about changing shit. They gave you both links to the US version and the Polish version. Both links have a black man sitting at the table. I think geekologie is the racist.....not microsoft.

hey its real us Brits got an apology about this in a news paper

Good blog, very good article. I have book mark the site.I will come again.

Oh oh two more to get 100 comments!!!!

100th comment. WHAT? WHAT?