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Microsoft apologizes for changing race in photo

Black man's head replaced with that of a white man on Polish Web site

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updated 10:50 a.m. ET Aug. 26, 2009

LOS ANGELES - Software giant Microsoft Corp. is apologizing for altering a photo on its Web site to change the race of one of the people shown in the picture.

(Msnbc.com is a Microsoft-NBC Universal joint venture.)

A photo on the Redmond-based company's U.S. marketing Web site microsoft.com shows two men, one Asian and one black, and a white woman seated at a conference room table. But on the Web site of Microsoft's Polish business unit, the black man's head has been replaced with that of a white man. The color of his hand remains unchanged.

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The photo editing sparked criticism online. Some bloggers said Poland's ethnic homogeneity may have played a role in changing the photo.

"We are looking into the details of this situation," Microsoft spokesperson Lou Gellos said in a statement Tuesday. "We apologize and are in the process of pulling down the image."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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