An advert produced by Microsoft to sell their products has sparked outrage after a doctored image showed that they replaced a black man for a Caucasian individual.
The original image, with the caption “Empower your people with the IT tools they need,” shows an elderly, smiling black man sitting between an Asian male and a Caucasian female. However, in the Polish version the man is noticeably absent, and whilst graphic editors seem to have forgotten to alter the colour of the individuals hand, his face is replaced with a younger, slicker Caucasian males.
As the images began to circulate the internet, many began to voice opinions that the altered image was due to Poland’s 97per cent Caucasian population. Whilst this view was believed by many, individuals used Twitter and other social networking sites to vent their outrage at the doctoring. “In this day and age, this is shocking” said Barry McCauler on his Twitter account.
Using their own Twitter account, Microsoft quickly responded to the claims saying “We are looking into the details of this situation. We apologise and are in the process of pulling down the image.” A spokeswoman at Poland’s Microsoft branch later announced that the four staff members behind the advert have already left the company. She said that the picture had been taken last September and that in no way had it been racially motivated, it was in fact a “simple mistake.”
“We would really like to apologise,” she added, “We are a multiracial company and there isn’t a chance any of us are racist.”
