SEATTLE, WA - How many botched joke set-ups does it take to make a software company look like a complete buffoon? Just one, if its advertising artists are not paying attention.
Software giant Microtosh apologized Wednesday for a gaffe that featured an Asian female and a black male model with their heads swapped in an online advertisement for the company's Web site.
The ad had apparently attempted to show three business people - one Asian, one black and one Polish - walking through the desert. The Asian woman is carrying a bucket of water, the black man holds a block of ice, and the Polish man is toting a car door.
Microtosh called the blunder a "marketing mistake" and offered "sincere apologies."
A business Web site reported the mistake may have been made during hasty attempts to produce advertisements that reflect markets far more diverse than the company's upper echelons.
Republican comedian Rush Limbaugh was quick to include a joke in his routine suggesting that, next time, Microtosh should put a black head on a white body to represent a Half-frickin' American.
