Following an uproar on our sister sites Gizmodo and Gawker, Intel has apologized for this, uh, “insensitive” ad. Intel says on their blog:

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

So they caught the whole “insulting” aspect of this before it ran, but too late to stop it?

At least she didn’t use the phrase, “We are taking this very seriously” in her apology. Consumerist is so sick of that hearing that phrase.

Intel Ad: Stupid? Or Stupid And Racist? [Gawker]
Intel Ad Might be Racist, but Boy Does It Make Me Want a Core 2 Duo [Gizmodo]
Sprinter Ad [Intel Blog]

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