Hasta La Creative!

I give you the Microsoft photo. Microsoft’s U.S. Web site features a picture of an Asian male, a black male, and a white female. Microsoft’s Poland site has an Asian male, a white male, and a white female. Wait a minute, something seems familiar. Right, the photo is the same. Well, except for one thing: The face of the black male is now white! What is this cosmetic miracle Microsoft tapped into? It’s no miracle, it’s an act of Photoshop, poorly executed.

Microsoft altered the image on the front page of its Web site in the Poland marketplace when it removed the black man’s face in the photo and replaced it with a white man’s. No other patches of skin were altered, meaning the man’s hand, also in the photo, was left untouched. Now, one can joke that man is English and drives on the passenger side and one can even remark that the image does not spit on racial harmony, but in fact, “[It] symbolizes [sic] interracial harmony,” as Vijay, a commenter from the PhotoshopDisasters blog, wrote. A source on CNET said the model switch might have been influenced in light of the “racially homogeneous” market in Poland. Realistically, though, no one will ever know what happened or whose hands it may have slipped past.

Now that the photo has been publicly scrutinized, what is being done? How will Microsoft get their image back? The reality is, whether we like it or not, certain demographics are racially skewed and the advertiser has to adjust messages according to demographics. It’s also the advertiser’s job (now pay attention here, it may be a bit shocking) to make sure such adjustments are done cleanly, tastefully, and, above all, without the knowledge of the uninvolved. For example, do you want to see the woman fold herself in the top-half of the box just before the magician saws it in half, or do you want to marvel at the wonder of magic dust?

Care to probe more? Take a closer look at the laptop in the image. That’s a Mac, right?

Rena Prizant is a Copywriter, Ad Creative and mammal in the Chicago area. Visit www.RenaPrizant.com or @WriteLeft.