1. The switched picture sure doesn't make me want to buy Microsoft's photo editing software.

2. Why didn't they change out the Asian guy?

I think it was pretty bogus to change it, and as noted at FARK, there is a history of such changes.

While there may only be 10 black people in Poland, I also don't think the Poles are so far behind the times they would be offended or put off of Microsoft Products if they were forced to see a black individual in an advertisement.

What happened to the bozo-devil look? The bozo-do is gone? And the high black collar? The slightly menacing look?
In the your new look, the hair has the monotone of cheap color job, but I guess the overall effect is better. Now you are going for the come-hither smile. The other look suggested a thrill behind closed doors though. If you could back it up, which was always doubtful, but maybe.....

i-holier-than-thou, should we go out and buy you a scratching post or something?

Regarding the ad, when things like this happen, I always wonder how the decision was made in the first place. I have the impression of some mid-level drone at the ad agency thinking, "Will I get yelled at if I show the black man in the Polish ad? Will I get yelled at if I make him white? No time to reshoot. Maybe a quick Photoshop job. Oh, I don't know. Better get with the graphics department..."

Of course, this poor drone will likely be fired now...

The original black head looks poorly photoshopped on too.

Do race-hustlers get offended by white chocolate?

Oh good grief! Anyone with any sense wouldn't find that offensive. Boo to Microsoft for not having the balls to stand up for themselves. (also- Anyone w/ any sense wouldn't use any microsoft software. Esp. the photo editing crap)

*I am trying really hard to not feed the troll*

Aww, fuck it! I-Hole, do you think you could do better? Do you think at all? Maybe you can go take that class in stupidity Amy blogged about earlier. You'd be sure to get an A+. If you can't afford it, I'm sure I could start up a collection for you. I could even help sign you up. Amy has your real name, after all, and I'm sure she'd be willing to help me get you signed up.

Amy looks fabulous in that photo and in the one that was previously up. Oh, and Amy is a natural red head. That isn't a cheap color job.Women would kill to have that color, and texture of hair, but you wouldn't know that would you? Don't be pissy because she looks & acts better than any woman (girl, right hand, etc...) you could possibly get.

Why don't you be a man and use your real name again? Or, instead of I-holier-than-thou, you can use I-bigger-asshole-than-thou.

Amy has been real classy by tolerating you. I would have blocked your IP a long time ago.

I once saw virgin Mary on my formica table counter.

@Jerry,

Was she still a Virgin Mary when she got off of your Formica table counter? I couldn't resist.

-Julie

I-Hole is a real piece of work. Amy is far too kind to pecker-heads who live under bridges.

Back on topic.

I had been involved in a software system vendor selection process. One of the vendors made a huge deal about them being a certified minority organization (I think that was the term they used). So three white guys show up with one non-white guy. The non white guy sat through the entire presentation and didn't say a word, shook hands with us and left.

This wouldn't have bothered me but for the fact that they made such a HUGE deal about being a minority organization. I thought it was a poor reflection on the company. I made that known during our selection process.

I don't care who you hire as long as you are going to give us the services and products we are paying for.

i-holier-than-thou, should we go out and buy you a scratching post or something?
Posted by: old rpm daddy

I was thinking we get him this http://www.extremerestraints.com/huge-dildos_186/super-manly-cock-and-balls-big-dildos_490.html, pound a few dozen penny nails thru it and shove it up his ass

The original black head looks poorly photoshopped on too.

Yeah it does.

It looks like Jib-Jab. Looking at it, I half expect him to break into a stirring rendition of "Big Box Mart."

I know I'd kill for Amy's hair. And complexion. And youthful skin at her age. And body...well heck, I just think she's hot and would be happy to look like her!

I've got the tall slim brunette thing going on, however. No red here.

Not sure if my post was saved from the pam box before Conan posted, but given Conan comments apper below the picture I seleceted I've been lauging my ass off for the last 10 minutes

"i-holier-than-thou, should we go out and buy you a scratching post or something?"

Love it, old rpm daddy!

I am always confused as to why Amy lets I-holy lurk around. Why does she not delete his idiotic posts. True Amy is a firm believer in Free speech but then it dawned on my i-holy... is trying to be Crow T Robot, Tom Servo, or Gypsy from Mystery Science Theater 3000 or those two classic old geezers Waldorf and Stadler from the Muppets. But in the end his material and heckling is just lame. Rarely is it smart or witty.

Poor Amy has to put up with some substandard heckler who jokes just fall flat. Amy's site deserves better quality loudmouths and jackasses.

Please I-holy try harder or just give up.

There are two points here:

• There is no reason a company should not adapt its presentation to local markets. You have blacks in your picture where you have blacks in the population. In this case, it was crudely done, but calling it racist is just dumb.
• It is pretty pathetic that every marketing photo in the USA must dominated by pictures of women and minority men. It is rare to see a white male. We must have gone extinct, and someone forgot to tell me...

This overdose of PC even carries through to grade school textbooks - if you should have the misfortune to have a child in elementary school, have a look at their textbooks. You will find lots of pictures of people, but almost none of white men. It would be pathetic, except: one has to wonder what insidious effect this has on caucasian boys.

The answer from the left will be: "posh, no effect". In which case they shouldn't mind if we put all the white males back...

bradley - it's the result of "get-even-with-em-ism" that Rush talks about.

The impact on white males is thought of as deserved, if it's thought of at all. "They were dominant for all those years, let them see what it feels like to be marginalized".

Of course, the written content of the textbooks is more worrying to me than the pictures.

Regarding i-hole: he's just mad because all those pills he bought from spammers made his dick disappear.

Bradley, that's a crock. 90% of the ads I see are all white people. Doesn't get me up in arms or anything, but I'm still seeing those oh-so-persecuted white males everywhere.

Hey, let me be the offended one: I almost never see people at meetings who look like the actors in ads.

Our managers range from 120 to 340 pounds, and they wear everything from heels to steel-toed boots. Camo.

But what bothers me more is the truth. "Diversity" means just one thing: black people are in the picture. It has nothing to do with ideas, ability or performance, and has done more to dumb down government, especially, than any other social stricture.

(Anecdote - which is not data: transferred coworker appears in my division. It develops that after fifteen years at her job, an industrial site, she cannot identify the difference between globe, gate, ball and needle valves. Her 2-year degree, from local Paine College, apparently equipped her to stick little plastic flowers all over her desk and the filing cabinets - not to do any actual "work".)

What do you see in successful operations? Commonality of purpose. You can see that in any record-holding organization.

>>Bradley, that's a crock. 90% of the ads I see are all white people. Doesn't get me up in arms or anything, but I'm still seeing those oh-so-persecuted white males everywhere.

90%? Then you must be exclusively watching ads made for Iceland. But with the follow up comment like you made, I put even less faith in your number (which was just about none to begin with).

Advertising today, more and more, is going for the racially non specific look (medium skin color and features that purposely could mean almost any race). I'm not sure that is a bad thing except for the motivation behind it (A, Political Correctness gone too far. B, advertisement production likely dominated by the Hollywood mindset). Fyi, Microsoft in the U.S. advertisements did go with the interracial couple. Interracial couples are largely represented by white female and black male. It is another way of getting that racial neutral advertisement (and for bias/honesty purposes, I have been in an interracial relationship for some time....whoopee for me!....even though having to say that sounds ridiculous..... much like the "some of my very best friends are

While I don't agree to the extent of Bradley's comments, some of his point is driven home with the "I'm still seeing those oh-so-persecuted white males everywhere" type comments. A comment like that is purely motivated to divert discussion using race.

>>But what bothers me more is the truth. "Diversity" means just one thing: black people are in the picture.

I believe Black, to the Hollywood ultra liberal type, is what defines diversity. Conversely they believe white is the easier negative target. And that plays out in the products that point of view produces. I think the awesome example of that was the movie "Sum of All Fears". The book, the movie is based on, had Islamic terrorists looking to set off an atomic bomb in the USA. Hollywood, apparently not looking to offend Islamic terrorists, changed the movie's atomic bomb planting bad guys to those fright inducing Austrians. When I read the story about that movie and how its PC gone too far production played out, it was a bit eye opening.

>>Hey, let me be the offended one: I almost never see people at meetings who look like the actors in ads.

In all fairness, I, and probably most people, don't want to see ads that represent the every day mutt faces I normally see at work, lol.....