Microsoft replacement of black man causes uproar over a common advertising practice

Microsoft recently used a different version of a photo within an ad for two different markets. Apparently this has caused an uproar, Microsoft has apologized, and replaced the changed photo.

huffingtonpost.com

All they did was photoshop out a black man and replaced him with a white man. Advertisers and marketers have been doing this since the beginning of advertising and marketing.

I was part of a similar plan in 2003. I was a model for a Microsoft ad where they hired 3 men and 1 woman. The other two men were of Japanese and Chinese decent. Their intent was to use a different version of the ad for different markets, US, Europe and Japanese.

Click on each photo icon above to see the full size ad.

Why is this just now being brought to light and frowned upon? Because the man was photoshopped and it wasn’t reshot with a different actor?