What is your take on this action to avert racial associations?

Caucasian.

I don’t see what the issue is. There aren’t (really) any black people in Poland. I would seem unusual to them. It’s simply targeting the audience you’re trying to reach.

How come no one complains that billboards in Harlem that offer a product don’t have white people on them?

No one would’ve said anything had the hand matched! :/

It’s a tempest in a teapot. It seems like a ridiculous thing for Microsoft to even spend any time thinking about (much less doctoring the photo), and ridiculous to get bent out of shape over.

Or in the words of Forest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does”.

especially since the lighting on the fake head is totally wrong. and there is blurring on the left side of the head and the window tray is botched too.
very amateurish

Amateuristic? Try creepy and horribly disfigured :)
Yes this is a big fail for Microsoft, but only because it is so obvious and poorly executed. Face it, this happens everyday in advertising. Like @eponymoushipster said, this is simply done to target the right demographic (which is mostly white). We don’t see a lot of men in tampon/pads commercials, what would you call that?

“it is so obvious and poorly executed.”

If you were not looking for it you probably would not have noticed. :-)

@ChazMaz You are probably right, because
a) I never really focus my attention at stock photo’s.
b) everyone in the picture is facing right, it’s human nature to do the same and look at the info panels.
c) I am a heterosexual 24 year old guy, is there anyone else in the picture besides the female?

However would you have showed me the picture and ask me to look at whats wrong with it I have no doubt I would have seen it. The guy looks like he has no neck on the back of his head, yet he shows a lot of neck in the front, it looks like his entire posture is incorrect/impossible. The lightening is off and not the mention the hand (which is harder to spot for me personally).

But you are right, I can never answer objectively after the description of the question explains what was photoshopped.

And no one is that happy looking at slides :P

Attempts to avert racial associations happen only as a response to racists, therefore such attempts themselves are racist.

I agree with the rather clumsy way it was done. But from my perspective they wouldn’t need to apologize. Guess you guys agree.

Just business

@bumwithablackberry – Exactly. Using or modifying stock photos certainly isn’t “unethical”, that’s how advertising is done.

This was done to suit a specific audience and the requirements of a promotion. If you think this is an unusual scenario then you don’t know a thing about advertising.

And as expected, whenever something of this nature is brought up it’s always necessary to make the typical apologies about it.

Having worked for a company that would take one basic marketing campaign and modify it for specific audiences, I’ve witnessed a small amount of outrage by a different group that the advertising wasn’t marketed for. In this case, Poland has a minute percentage of black citizens.

Ina Fried wrote the article and lives in the US. People pick their own battles. I’d be more interested in hearing the opinion of the man whose photo was changed than Ms. Fried’s, who once worked for Microsoft.