Intel Apologizes for Racist Sprinter Ad
Intel officially apologized for their controversial Core 2 Duo Processor advertisement in a post on their corporate blog.
According to Nancy Bhagat, Intel's Director of User Experience, the advertisement was intended to "convey the performance capabilities of our processors through the visual metaphor of a sprinter." However, numerous individuals claimed that they found it insensitive and insulting. They saw not six sprinters ready to take off out of the gates, but six black men bowing to a smug, smiling white man.
Which begs the question: what the hell is a Director of User Experience?
In keeping with FitFlops' comprehensive case study, we surveyed a pool of one person in order to determine the popular public opinion toward this advertisement. The individual was asked to examine a cropped version of the advertisement sans text and describe what they saw. The result?
"I see six guys who don't belong in an office -- they look like divers in cubicles -- and one guy who looks like he belongs there."
It took some prodding for our test subject to realize the racial connotations of the image. "Oh, I didn't even realize they were black."
An interesting twist.
Let's assume Intel made the same mistake and were color-blind when they created their sprinter ad. However, the first thing those who found it "insensitive and insulting" saw was the color of the men's skin.
So who's the real racist here?
For the record, here's a copy of Intel's official apology plucked straight off their corporate blog.
Intel’s intent of our ad titled “Multiply Computing Performance and Maximize the Power of Your Employees” was to convey the performance capabilities of our processors through the visual metaphor of a sprinter. We have used the visual of sprinters in the past successfully.
Unfortunately, our execution did not deliver our intended message and in fact proved to be insensitive and insulting. Upon recognizing this, we attempted to pull the ad from all publications but, unfortunately, we failed on one last media placement.
We are sorry and are working hard to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Labels:
business,
trendonyms
7 comments:
I couldn't tell they were all black-a couple are still questionable. So what if they all are-what's the big deal-I'm a black man and I sure as hell don't care.
What's really silly is that it's not 6 black men, but one black man photoshopped into the picture 6 times.
Anyone that thinks the man is "bowing" to the white man in the center is looking for a racist undertone. He (six times) is clearly a sprinter, or a diver. Or someone that's on a football front line about to tackle the guy in the center. I mean, it's not like Kunta Kinte wore a Speedo.
Yeah, it's obviously a Photoshop job. Anyone who claims it's racist is just looking for an excuse to be stupid.
Some people will always find a racist angle. These people hope we never have true equality as it suits them to complain about it.
http://www.jonentine.com/reviews/quokka_01.htm
Exactly it is photoshop.. that implies that black men have no identity and are as one(just like slavery times). the white man with his arms crossed shows he is dominate and is over the black man. (y not a black man standing or a person with brown skin???) it isnt only racist to blacks. it says that the white man is slow and dorky. that's y he isnt the athlete like the black man and that is why he is a manager. after intel apologized for this one they published one in india with a LIGHT skinned Indian man. WTF? there are 1.1 billion Indian people in India and they pick a LIGHT skinned one. same meaning just in a different culture context
There was a great south park episode about this very phenomenon, titled "Chef Goes Nanners."
Post a Comment