Microsoft Apologizes for “Separate but Equal” Photo-Editing Blunder
by Peter Kafka
Posted on August 26, 2009 at 5:39 AM PT
In the old days, when you wanted to make a photo more palatable for an Eastern European state, you just airbrushed it, and no one complained (out loud).
Now it’s easier than ever to alter an image. But it’s harder to get away with it.
Ask Microsoft, which just got caught digitally erasing a black man from a promotional photo and replacing him with a white guy. The original photo ran on a U.S. version of a Microsoft promotional site; the (clumsily) retouched version ended up on a Polish version.
CNET has before and after screenshots (click to enlarge):
U.S. Version
Polish Version
Microsoft (MSFT) has since replaced the Polish photo with the original, and apologized last night.
[Image credit: CNET]
Comments
Who did they apologize to? Hopefully to professional users of photo editing software. That job looks wrong from a mile away!
Posted by Mac Beach at August 26th, 2009 at 10:01 amActually, I gotta say, once you start looking at the “real” image, everything about that one looks off, too. It’s forever tainted, I fear. And now, because it’s on the Web, it will never go away.
Posted by Peter Kafka at August 26th, 2009 at 12:25 pm