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by Chris Matyszczyk

In the wake of the unfortunate race-swap decapitation performed by unknown persons on an image used on Microsoft's Web site in Poland, I thought I'd wander over to the Polish press and see what it might have to say on the subject.

You see, we spoke Polish at home. And, well, I wondered whether the coverage in the country of my blood might indeed differ in any way from that in the U.S. Some Polish papers, like the rather energetic tabloid Super Express seem not have to made much of the story.

The more serious Dziennik pointed to critics who suggested that at least Microsoft "left the Poles an Asian." Dziennik also pointed to the Web site of the Medical University of Lublin which, while having two white professorson its Polish language site, introduced a black professor on its English language version.

Perhaps the most influential national daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, had its say Wednesday in an article entitled "The Black Hand of Microsoft." Gazeta Wyborcza opted for a less than sympathetic tone. "The black man's face was removed digitally," wrote the paper, "but they forgot about his hand."

While saying that Microsoft's Polish operation was not commenting at all on the issue, Gazeta Wyborcza made much of the suggestion that the laptop in the shot may actually be a barely anonymized Apple model and that the monitor on the table doesn't seem to be connected to anything. The paper even quoted Vijay, a commenter from the PhotoshopDisasters blog, who wrote: "The white head and black hand actually symbolise (sic) interracial harmony."

Judging by the lack of comments on the article, it appears that so far Poles regard this issue as not terribly significant.

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET News)

And here's the one from the Polish site:

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET News)

Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 

by technewb August 26, 2009 4:29 PM PDT

This is not racist. In africa they would replace the white woman with a black women. It's called advertising to your market. These people need to get a life.

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by EdmondDantes August 26, 2009 7:03 PM PDT

There are all kinds of repercussions here. The head transplant gives validity to the perception of Poland as a country uncomfortable with ethnic or cultural diversity. Once, I saw an interview in the US by a high Polish official (post Berlin wall) enthusing about Polish homogeneous population, which protected the country from upheaval that befell on the ex-Yugoslavia. And we all know how the Polish population got to be homogeneous. I hope the Polish public protests this type of perception. They were the ones truly offended by Microsoft's advertisement.

by jabberwolf August 26, 2009 8:50 PM PDT

I kinda agree that people use advertising for certain markets.. maybe there arent many black men in Poland?
In any case, they could have at least used another advertisement and this is bad for the POLAND ad company and not Microsoft.

As for the mac.. um WHERE? The white laptop? Thats what they are claiming is a Mac?
Oh and the monitor cable can connect to may under the table mini-systems.. that I have actually installed.
They are actually quite useful in board rooms that need a hidden computer to connect to. But usually those are for projector use.

by Mr. Dee August 26, 2009 4:52 PM PDT

So what if its a Mac? Microsoft is the largest developer of software for the Mac outside of Apple. Not to mention Mac users love Office for Mac. The guy looks like an executive btw way, the tend to not know better when it comes to technology.

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by firepad August 26, 2009 5:47 PM PDT

Mac users buy Office for the same reason as anyone else: interoperability. The app itself is dismal. Fortunately, the import/export alternatives get better every year...

by solitare_pax August 26, 2009 6:07 PM PDT

Of course, the last time I heard of someone at Microsoft taking a photo of Macs being used at Microsoft (in the PR department of course) they got canned but quick.

I will say that it is a horrid execution of photoshopping though - they should ask for their money back, and send the kiddie who manipulated the image to surf worth1000.com for tips.

by Sehera13 August 26, 2009 4:57 PM PDT

It's always nice when entire nation is judged by the actions of one idiot...

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by Fatesrider August 26, 2009 5:01 PM PDT

It looks like a Apple MacBook MB062LL/A. The spacing, type and number of ports on the showing side, along with the size, looks about right.

The monitor ISN'T plugged into anything. It has no wires of any kind attached to it. (It's a Dell monitor and looks like an old Dell keyboard). The only wire leading from it actually comes from the keyboard..

This is what happens when you get an ad agency that doesn't know a notebook from a cookbook and actors intended to be a mix of happy, productive, successful executives having a good time to promote a company. My guess is this is a stock photo that can be used for several other ad campaigns as well and wasn't specifically shot in support of a Microsoft ad campaign.

My question is, if this gal is giving a slide presentation (even if using a computer to do it), why is she bothering with the keyboard when she has a remote?

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by rajesh_shenoy August 26, 2009 5:58 PM PDT

They're most probably laughing because Windows has hung up on them - the woman is pressing the ESC key!

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by hysonmb August 26, 2009 5:58 PM PDT

You could assume (wildly) that the input and power for the monitor were pulled and run to the projector. She may have the remote for the presentation, but also be taking notes in the meeting where no one knows what she's talking about and apparently the guy in the middle is having an identity crisis. 
Also, yes, the computer looks like a Mac. Microsoft likely could have cared less when this pic was taken if it was a Mac or not. Like another poster said, they make money off of Mac users. Sure PC users are going to run Windows most of the time, but, a LOT of Mac users are now using Boot Camp and running Windows anyway. Apple is advertising an improvement in Snow Leopard saying that it's compatible with Exchange out of the box..... 
The guy being Photoshopped really isn't the issue here. I think it's more about the guy being Photoshopped badly. I'm sure someone is already on it, but, I'd like to know how many of these stock photos are modified for different markets and how much do they save by doing Photoshop instead of taking another picuture with the other guy? It's a photo shoot, someone around there would have had to fit the look they were trying to get and it would have likely been less expensive than paying someone to PS the pic (and subsequently fix it while taking a PR hit)

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by sergiodesandiego August 26, 2009 6:55 PM PDT

This seems to me as an insult to polish people, insinuating that they won't buy a product displaying blacks.
Hmmm what does it mean? they don't like blacks? no actually, they like white with black hands, it looks nice and colorful on them. Asian might be okay to them, beautiful white woman is way better to sell your product in Poland; I got the message

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by jaycal3 August 26, 2009 6:58 PM PDT

You may speak Polish at home, but your English is definitely American.

You added a redundant (sic) after symbolise. The English spell many words with a "se" where Americans use "ze".

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by Technostud August 26, 2009 7:08 PM PDT

Let's hope Chris's Polish is better than his English. He typed a pretentious correction of the newspaper Gazeta Wybocza's spelling of "symbolise." But that is of course a perfectly acceptable British spelling.

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by krashr August 26, 2009 7:12 PM PDT

Are you sure you didn't just pull this off Gizmodo's site instead of checking your home country's Microsoft site?
http://gizmodo.com/5345418/microsoft-needs-to-hire-better-less-racist-graphic-designers

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by bmrowe23 August 26, 2009 7:14 PM PDT

That's OK. Marketing people make me want to pull my head off all the time. Besides these people look too happy to be IT executives. They look more like consultants when catering arrives. And yes, it is normal for their mis-matched gear not to be plugged into anything.

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by WilliamBanzai7 August 26, 2009 7:43 PM PDT

I lived in Poland 6 years. Black people are regularly referred to as chocolate people and monkeys on a regular basis. There was no civil rights movement in Poland and it should be no surprise that some Polish PR jock decided to "white out" the black gentleman.

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by jayperk August 26, 2009 8:14 PM PDT

So they replaced him with a Polish-looking guy for an ad that ran in Poland. I guess if the ad ran in Detroit, and the original guy was a Pole, they would replace the Polish dude with a darker guy and the Poles would be making all this noise. Well, probably not.

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by chowza August 26, 2009 8:31 PM PDT

The US is multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, with PC bordering on the ridiculous. Other countries, like Poland, are, for the most part, culturally and ethnically homogeneous. PC is not a factor in such places nor is racial diversity/equality something that is even considered (being that such places only have one race for the most part ). The Photoshopping in the MS ad was definitely bad but, if the country's population is 99% white, then including all white faces in ads makes complete sense -- why include a Black or an Asian face in a place that has neither?? The goal is to appeal to the local market -- putting images in ad that locals can't relate to does not accomplish that at all.

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by Miron111 August 26, 2009 8:47 PM PDT

It takes quite an imagination to pick on a Polish guy to want to represent a company in Poland... as if he was somehow racially motivated. Political correctness goes ta - ta, armed and dangerous.

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by meechp123 August 26, 2009 9:27 PM PDT

Umm...I'm black and I just wanted to say:

THIS IS STUPID. I'm tired of everything being about race. 

They probably adjusted the ad for their target market. If not and if their intentions were malicious...well, shame on them. 

I'm just going to give the person who created this ad the benefit of doubt and assume it's the former.

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by jayperk August 26, 2009 10:12 PM PDT

I've been here. I was a brand manager of a consumer products company that got caught in a similar mistake by an ad layout team. A "donation" was made by the firm to a particular group of "non-profit community organizations" and the issue was dropped. The donation amounted to a figure about the cost of a full-page ad in Time. Not a big deal. The gentle woman that collected the "donation" arrived in a terrific custom Mercedes, her entourage treated to an embarrassingly expense luncheon with the President of our company and all was forgiven. It had happened before.

A member of the offending layout team, a rather hard working and capable African American lady herself, quipped: "kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term Black-mail, no?". We had a good laugh but she shook her head and said "This doesn't make it any easier for us". I felt bad for her. 

This is how some people in non-profit organizations earn a living. Nothing else.