Check out the Intel ad above featuring a Causacian white-collar employee standing over six prone black men. We’re guessing that is one of those ads that was created totally unconsciously and with 100% stupidity. In any case, Intel has issued an apology due to severe blogosphere backlash. See the letter after the jump.
So, who is responsible for this total shitstorm? A spokesperson for Intel said that, “I won’t point fingers. Both Intel and McCann-Erickson were working closely on this.” So, we’re still waiting for McCann Erickson’s apology. You know they created the damn thing. The client just foolishly gave it the thumbs up. McCann? Right now would be good…. like right now. Anyone know who the creative director was? Don’t worry. We’re not going to lynch him, but we’re just sort of curious about his/her thought process. Create a fake gmail account and let us know at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com
Meanwhile, Intel competitor AMD has set up a page called “Break Free,” where they highlight all the news of the current anti-trust lawsuit against their rival. Someone should start a page for McCann, which documents all their mess-ups like their L’Oreal/Penelope Cruz debacle or their loss of Buick to Burnett or even, their Powerade ad that was deemed dangerous by the ASA. Sorry, but McCann is fast becoming the agency we dislike most. Can you believe it?
“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.
Nancy Bhagat Vice President, Director of Integrated Marketing”
Via Gizmodo
More: Seriously… Dear readers… have any thoughts on this recent campaign?