Microsoft racist ‘SNAFU’
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- World business leader Microsoft got caught with its pants around its ankles, trying to please racists.
It pasted a white guy over a black guy in a Polish Microsoft business solutions advertisement.
Later,Microsoft`s Marketing Snafu Is a Black and White Issue, said a Microsoft Watch headline.
And as p2pnet pointed out, `SNAFU` is World War II military slang for Situation Normal All Fucked Up.
“OMFG – there are just SOOOO many things wrong with this (as in ‘what’s wrong with this picture?’) I don’t even know where to begin!” – says p2pnet regular poster voxleo in a Reader’s Write, going on »»»
I simply cannot fathom the thought process
Is there a meeting where some idiot says, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great idea ‘
Or does some other idiot doctor this stuff up before it even hits the drawing board?
And the ‘apology’? : ‘Marketing site photo mistake – sincere apologies. . .’
What was the ‘mistake’? The decision to do something as assinine as the doctoring of the photo or the fact that the doctoring was done so poorly?
“Wow,” she adds. “Really? Just
“Wow.”
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trying to please racists – Microsoft black-white debacle, August 27, 2009
Microsoft Watch – Microsoft`s Marketing Snafu Is a Black and White Issue, August 26, 2009
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August 30th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I disagree with this. If I’m marketing to Koreans, I’ll show a bunch of plausible Koreans using it. If I’m marketing to children, I’ll show a bunch of plausible children using it. Heck, if I were marketing to nuns, I’d get a bunch of plausible nuns. Where’s the big deal? If you think about it, even suggesting that the change is racist, is racist in itself, because the implication is that the Black guy is good enough for the photo, but the White guy isn’t. Bottom line is, if the images match your target audience, I don’t care what the colour of their skin is: do you?
P.S. I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but let’s needle them for what they’ve really done, not this fluff.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:55 am
Andy:
So basically, you’re saying that the only reason they changed it from MOSTLY white guys to ALL white guys, was because they’re marketing it to Swedes?
Nice: so Microsoft ISN’T racist, they just think Swedes are, because for some reason, they wouldn’t be able to wrap their minds around using a product that could also be used by a black guy.
There are no black people in Sweden?
Here’s a thought: if this was REALLY just Microsoft’s attempt at ‘adjusting’ an advertisement to a particular area, you’d think there’d be doctored versions of this for — let’s say — Japan, where all the people would have been replaced with Japanese people.
So, if you’re marketing to children, you show plausible children, if you’re marketing to nuns, you show plausible nuns.
If you’re marketing to Sweden, you make sure everybody in the commercial is White.
So maybe Microsoft isn’t racist in and of itself, but somebody in their ad department figures Sweden IS.
August 31st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Hey, I am the next guy, and I absolutely LOVE Microsoft!
And yes, they were advertising for the poles!
How African-Americans are in there???
September 1st, 2009 at 12:51 am
Where Henry says “Nice: so Microsoft ISNâT racist, they just think Swedes are…” yes, you got it. Wrong country, but never mind. I invite you to read the answers to this question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090421123804AAgqIEs for an insight which you appear to be lacking. Welcome to the world of racism by proxy. Here’s a quandary for you: if you’re recruiting for a chain such as Hooters, where you believe that your clientele prefers to be serviced by young buxom waitresses, are you being sexist if you hire only staff with those qualities, or are you simply responding to market pressures? If you want a receptionist to make conference hall attendees feel welcome, and choose a friendly female face, is the prejudice yours for recognising the statistical predominance of male attendees, or is the crime society’s for allowing that skew to exist in the first place? There are lots of things in this world that are “nice” [sic] but we don’t get anywhere by attacking things that are not the problem.