Raunchy Dance Routine a PR Nightmare For Microsoft 322
theodp writes "GeekWire reports on the techno-dance routine that preceded Microsoft's Windows Azure presentation at the Norwegian Developers Conference this week, which featured a group of women jumping around on stage to a song that included several drug references and the line: 'The words MICRO and SOFT don't apply to my penis.' In a strange effort to be inclusive, a monitor displaying the lyrics added, 'or vagina.' The official Windows Azure YouTube channel has posted an apology for 'a skit that involved inappropriate and offensive elements and vulgar language,' and said it's actively looking into the matter. Hey, could've been worse — at least @ASUS wasn't live-tweeting the event!"
huh? (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry.. was that a Loiter Squad skit?
I can't see any way that as not meant as an intentional parody.
Either way, or the writer was on drugs.
Oh yeah, it's the latter. Never mind.
Any bigger PR nightmare? (Score:5, Interesting)
It could be worse. I discovered a famous furniture company's name means "ass" in Swedish from some engineers who couldn't stop laughing whenever they would see these boxes everywhere. I couldn't find it in the dictionary so it must be colloquial.
I wonder is there a way to search whether a made up brand name matches any word colloquial or not in any of the mainstream languages?
Don't put the hipster in charge of presentations (Score:5, Interesting)
Every incident like this I've ever been involved with usually began with a staff meeting where everyone thought it would be a great idea to be young and hip by putting the young and hip guy in charge of some presentation. And it usually ended with said young and hip guy explaining why he honestly thought that having someone sing a rendition of "Cop Killer" to a backdrop of nude dancers would be appropriate for a presentation of of the company's annual shareholders' report.
Leave the musical numbers for the Oscars and the comedy skits for SNL. They already do them bad enough without you trying too.
Re:Damage control (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft already seems to be doing some kind of damage control because I cannot share this link on facebook. Facebook tells me I'm trying to share a blocked link...
Re:Non-Native Insight (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm sorry to say we have no excuse for this silly little song, other than that we have a different culture and couldn't care less about offending "sensitive" foreigners :)
And you shouldn't. But as an American, I'm wondering where all these sensitive American are? Who are these prigs who are offended by this? I couldn't care less about it either? We're in an industry composed mostly of men...I get a feeling this is something that the MS PR department alone is freaking out about...because some little old church lady might see this and get offended and...what?...start using Linux?!?!? I don't know.
Re:So... uh... (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:What happened to the good old days? (Score:5, Interesting)
If he sold off his shares, then I might believe you were anything but a piss-poor Troll. But he hasn't.
Funny you [huffingtonpost.com] should [techflash.com] mention [dailyfinance.com] that [smartcompany.com.au].
I'd say that Billy has been selling off Microsoft shares as fast as he possibly can without people noticing too much.
So whoever modded this +1, kindly go unfuck yourself before attempting further moderation.
Ah yes. I think we know why you don't have mod points.
You salute the uniform. (Score:5, Interesting)
You know how members of the military show genuine respect for some idiot that outranks them?
Because when you salute, you're not saluting the man, you're saluting "the uniform," the office the man holds, not the man. It's kind of a dodge, I'll grant you, but one I think works.
The badge works the same way. I'll follow an officer's instructions in public not because he's a great guy, but because he holds a public office We the People have invested with authority. It's the badge that's important, not the man.
When I was in college, I worked at a very large and successful tourist trap restaurant and bar at a site of great natural beauty. The owner hired two sheriff's deputies for security. In return for hanging out on the weekends and hitting on the waitstaff, the owner provided those two deputies with half of their takehome pay and just a whole lot of booze.
It didn't take long for the corruption to set in. The owner was getting those deputies money, alcohol and sex and sure enough, they very quickly became his personal pet deputies. I saw people get arrested for very little more than "Contempt of Owner," while the DUI patrols that used to hover around the restaraunt mysteriously evaporated.
It's a pretty simple principle. The badge should not be available for rent or sale. Private money should not buy public authority. Doing so is called "Bribery." Our Law Enforcement Officers need to avoid even the appearance of favoritism or bias, and thus should not be taking money from people thay may one day be called upon to testify against or arrest.
If this means we need to pay our LEOs a living wage, so be it.