ASUS and MSI have some 'splaining to do
By Paul Miller 
posted May 18th 2008 9:01AM
posted May 18th 2008 9:01AM
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Haha, that's amazing!
I want wait to see how this unfolds.
I forget where, maybe the Wall Street Journal, but some newspaper had an entire article on companies losing branding quality due to internet stock photo usage (and many companies using the same stock photos).
This is pretty common though; I'm not sure why it deserves an Engadget article. Neither company did anything wrong, per se.
Definitely. Either way I gotta say MSI did the better shop job.
Yeah, MSI looks more natural but the the ASUS guy is blushing so hard that he looks like he's in love with his notebook!
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=1&language=en-US&family=creative&p=200193762-001&src=standard
Title: Boys (8-10) sitting at desks with laptops in classroom, portrait
Image #: 200193762-001
License type: Royalty-free
Photographer: Thomas Barwick
Collection: Digital Vision
Credit: Thomas Barwick
It's just what happens when you decide to go super cheap with design, photography, and brand, 'specially in this day and age of the instantly-informed public.
Those cheap asshats deserve this article.
"License type: Royalty-free"
Geez eh, cheap indeed.
The CD collection which this image belongs to is $600 and contains 50 images, so this image cost them $12, assuming they could find a use for the other images.
Setting up your own photo shoot would have cost way more than $600. It is a question of branding. The marketing people at Asus should have paid for exclusive use (still cheaper than rolling your own) or at least have checked prior use...
Honestly though, it's not like 99.9% of the people being marketed to would notice.
There's no such thing called bad publicity.. this thing is just making us talk even more about their brands..
Anyone pr their dog can take a picture of this "quality", suitable for the web, with a $100 camera. I'd do it for a $5. Companies get so tied up with "professionalism" but the standards of "professionalism" change as technology improves.
They're stupid to use stock footage when an original photo would have taken any random employee 5 minutes at a school or home.
@LarryLarryLarry
Yeah, it's not like there are model releases or anything involved.
You can totally just go into any school and start taking pictures of
kids and use them anywhere you want for your business.
And I don't see what the big deal is about this. It's kind of funny they used the same photo, but the use of stock photography is very common. There's nothing to explain about it. And believe it or not, getting good photos is not as simple as just walking into a school or whatever with your cannon powershot.
Actually, for correctness, I think that it is an iBook.
yeah, macbooks don't have the vent on the side, and the macbooks have a microphone port (which this 12 incher is missing). Macbooks have no dialup internet port (blanking on the official name) and the security lock is in a diffent location. Come on engadget, you don't brand computers at Starbucks like i do?
even more correct I doubt there's actually iBook there, you can see how the kids in the back show up more in MSI's pic. The original probably features them with pen and paper, its not uncommon for companies, especially tech companies to take photos like that and drop in what they want advertised
Dialup port = RJ11
Yeah, and the macbooks have a charging port on that side where as the iBooks have it on the other side
@ JohnTitor : The original picture is not taken to promote the iBook, it's just a portrait from a class at school. So no need for the photographer to edit some laptops on the desks. If he did, he did one hell of a job, because in that case he took care of every detail, contrary to the MSI picture where they just mirrored the other half of his classmate face and blurred it out. If you look at the original picture you see the second kid appearing as a normal kid, on the MSI picture he looks like an abomination of god.
A dial-up internet port is called a "modem". Kids nowadays. :-)
Not all modems are dial up Internet ports. :P
Modem = Modulator/Demodulator. They take digital signals and turn them into analog signals and back again.
Technically speaking, even a wireless broadband card is a "modem" as it is taking analog radio waves and turning them into a digital signal for the computer.
Likewise, your cable box at home is a cable "modem".
Keeping this in mind, it is actually more accurate and descriptive to call it a "dial up Internet port" rather than a "modem".
Adults these days. ;-)
wtf :?
Wow... even 5 year olds using Mac are hipsters.
lol, priceless. They almost got away with it.
"If it wasn't for you meddling kids!" In the spirit of lifting trademarks, forgive me Scooby-Doo
@NotNormal:
Ruh-Roh.
What's worrying is how in the Asus ad he's wearing lipstick and blusher (i think that's blusher anyway)
Also worrying...you noticed
@Maxwell Ash
More worrying to me is that you didn't notice. Seriously, how could you not notice that? It looks horrendous.
it looks to me like they screwed with the white balance controls.
Anyway id that kid were me: I'd sue for money, unless they got his permission then did a bad photoshop job which would seem rather pointless....
That's an iBook, not a MacBook.
is it really so hard to make a kid go near an eepc that your need to doctor a picture of him using it
lol good call
You can see that the kid is very happy with his iBook, and the kid behind him even happier with his Powerbook. If you put them in front of some Eee PCs they wouldn't be as happy. Put them in front of an MSI and they'd probably start crying.
That's an iBook... MacBooks don't have modems, nor do they have vents next to the HD.
Nor do they have a barrel charging connector (versus a magsafe), nor do they lack a mic input jack.
@ Scott
The "barrel charging connector" is on the right on iBooks, the slot before the modem is a kensington security slot
Why the even picked that image is a mystery to me. It's hardly ideal for shopping in an alternative product.
Busted!!
hahaha, the photoshopping looks horrible. Is it really that hard to take an original picture themselves? That seems like it would be cheaper to do. then again, they probably hired little timmy to do this work.
The MSI is badly copy pasted...onto the iBook. You can see part of it !
The Asus cropped the pic, so we can't tell.
Asus replaced the reflections on the table with matte grey and some very weak shadows, they also put some grey brushing over his left hand.
PWNED.
Whoa! I will make sure that I will never pose in a generic position on camera... Someone could easily photochop a plasma gun or a canister of Radioactive material in from of me smiling and send it to Homeland security... or S.H.I.E.L.D....
Is it really that hard to shoot your own photos? I mean whoever did the photoshop work, even took the time to play plastic surgeon...look at the face on the kid in the background on the MSI one!
rofl I noticed that too, wow.....
The MSI one is so bad.
i noticed it too, but only after seeing the original... and at least MSI knows a thing or two about color... the color in the Asus pic is terrible.
you know the most important aspect is...time and money.
to shoot an original photo, you need:
1) hire a good photographer
2) rent or borrow a venue
3) hire professional models (model agency alwayyyyys charge very very much)
Though riginal photo also need to be photoshopped,
but, for gettyimage, just click click click and you can start to photoshop it.
Indeed, royalty free image is not....cheap...
The price is even higher then a Eee PC...
They are just...unfortunate....hahha
and the original photo is too nice.....hahah
it's an iBook - see the telephone modem jack and no MagSafe... ?
i know you! you're from flickr lol
Get it? GET A MAC !
What a bunch of idiots.
I wish I was the owner of that photo so I can sue their asses for a huge sum of money.
How hard is it to just hire someone to make a pose, put your product beside it, then click the camera ?
The owner of the photo CAN'T sue. Whoever shot this put it up for sale on a stock photography website, with very little control in terms of how the image is used once it is bought by an individual or company. The owner probably thinks it's funny shit, if he ever bothers to read any articles about it. I mean, what does he care? His name isn't in the credits anywhere.
Not if it's licensed appropriately as a stock photo...
It's harder than to pay someone $12 who already took a photo. The owner of the photo got paid when they ordered the royalty-free image, genius.
And what's also hard is to be in a creative department at a company and tell your bosses that they need to pay for a photo shoot vs paying for a cheap royalty-free photo.
Wow, you really think professional photography is that simple?
@Player1
yeah, i do think it's that simple -- what you described doesn't even make photography seem that hard. it just made the whole job seem trivial. it's 12 darn bucks out of a company's pocket. if a company can't afford to take a photo for an ad campaign, that's really sad.
Notice on the bottom photo, the screen appears to be pasted to the notebook from another application. No logo, dissimilar color.
@bootareen
Buying a stock photo for cheap and having a designer you already have on-staff edit it for a couple hours is cheaper than a photo shoot. It's a fact.
I do this crap for a living, I assure you clients rarely want to pay more for something they can get for super cheap. It's not hard to understand.
Just in case you didn't see the other 4 comments, the original is an iBook.
carry on....
I work in Advertising. If they bought the rights to use the photo, this is no big deal at all. Companies do this type of thing all the time.
The only funny thing is that they used the same photo.
There's actually nothing really wrong with this. No copyright/trademark infringement, just use of the same photo.
And it costs a lot of money to set up a shot like that (unless you take the photo yourself and use your own kid), so just buying a cheap stock image is almost always the way to go.
Hey, isn't that an iBook?
I think it's an iBook.
Has anyone mentioned that it's an iBook yet?
'Cuz it really looks like an iBook......
THANK YOU! Seriously, who cares which nearly-identical Apple laptop it is.
8th time's the charm.
This kid must be envying his seat mate since he is using a MacBook Pro. lol
Envy is always fun.
Actually it's a PowerBook G4 (note the antenna rubber patches on the side of the monitor).
Actually it's an iBook in the orginal not a Macbook.
Lol...
That kid must have a lot of money to burn. He brings a different laptop to school almost everyday.
BTW, i'd smack whoever let him dress himself like that...1/2 skateboarder 1/2 middle aged man around 3:00pm at work.
Well, if both parties just bought the rights to the stock image, there's nothing wrong with them using it - though it's awkward they both chose the same image.
The real problem here is the absolutely shoddy editing done on both images. Seriously, did they try to save money by having a 10 year old muck around with MSpaint?
both parties bought stock on the same image. thats the dumbest thing i've ever heard. giant companies using the same image for an add just because they have right on the stock image. it's obviously edited. are you blind? if you have rights with the images, you don't have to erase other device to insert your device. that comment is extremely dumb
That's pretty damn funny...
There's no way anyone smiles that much from doing school work. He must be secretly looking at porn.
Oh hell no! Bwahhahahaha! I wonder what is the significance using that orange bennie boy on these devices. You can use any boy give em 20 bucks for 1 pic. Why use photoshop? I think they made these subnotebook so cheap, there's no profit coming in, Cannot pay 20 bucks. LMAO!!!
The best part is how the black girl (?) in the background becomes a white boy ^^
Wow, nice catch. Why would they change that though?
@ Guzzie.
Do I smell a hint of Racism?
Haha, figured it out. The girls head is covered up by the iBook in the original and when they shoop'd it they needed a head to insert. Still odd that they didn't use a black girl's head though.
I still love it...
It's like one of those bar video games where you have to find all the alterations in two similar photos! Sweet, I'm in.
LOL
They didn't use the black girls head because it wasn't complete. What it looks like they did is take the middle kids head and distort it to use over hers. To use a black girls they'd have to buy/find another stock photo and take it from there.
So this has nothing to do with racism, just funny.
They just use the same marketing company, yeah thats it :) or the kid posed for several shots with all brands of laptops. :)
I wonder how much Orange Beanie dude here makes in endorsements :D (Looks like everyone wants him using their products :)) )
Sorry...Fail
I can't remember, I know asus had some role in the macbook (was it just r&d or do they make it??), did they have any involvement with the ibook?
If a company is dumb enough to make a move like this then maybe we should buy their products? Ok maybe not. But who knows what kinda stupid shit they have in store for their customers later down the road.... hmmmm?>
"maybe we shouldn't"
and were was this adverb used officially? how could somebody tell it is not just two photoshoped pictures and somebody "claimed" ASUS and MSI did them?
Most of the time, adverbs are used after the verb, or at the end of the sentence, though I don't know what purpose a grammar discussion serves here...
I'm guessing that all three photos use after effects to composite the notebook in. I wonder if MSI and ASUS used the picture in jest. Here I thought these technology corporations had no funny bone. Don't I feel stupid. . . wait that could be autism. DAMN! :)
I knew there was more to this picture. No kid would grin this much over either Asus or MSI.
WOW you mean Apple use image libraries too ? How amazing !
Although 3 different computer companies using the same stock image is a little cheap.
Maybe Apple, MSI and ASUS should spend a little bit more on corporate images.
Apple didn't have anything to do with this. This is a stock photo from Getty Images and is available to anyone who wants to buy it.
...folks... MSI and ASUS didn't pick the image....advertising companies do... and which ever one(s) they both use for US media really screwed up.....
This is reminiscent of Everywhere Girl of Inquirer-fame. It happens all the time, although not always so badly photoshopped. It's a lot cheaper to buy some stock photograph than it is to hire a photographer and set up a shoot for one picture.
Well most likely the advertising company they hired is to blame, and it's likely they picked the same company given that they are both in Taiwan.
@ zedster
asus manufacture laptops for apple (apple design them and makes the software).
seriously bad microsoft paint skills whoever edited them, they should use photoshop for better results
Someone mentioned the Everywhere Girl. For those who don't know her, it was a case where the same model showed up in both Dell and Gateway ads, and then began showing up "everywhere". Here is the article about her appearances:
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2005/07/19/everywhere-girl---the-partial-story
and here is her blog:
http://www.theeverywheregirl.com/
Could this be our Everywhere Boy?
wow thats awesome