ASUS and MSI have some 'splaining to do

Man, Mr. Orange Beanie sure does have quite a bit of cash to be burning on subnotebooks. You earn that mowing lawns, kid? Ah, we get it, a little bit of modeling on the side, huh? Don't worry, we won't tell anyone. Apparently ASUS and MSI have been caught red handed using the same photograph to peddle their wares. The best part of all is that neither shot is original -- they both swiped a stock photo featuring our friend Orange here with a good ol' MacBook. Don't worry though, we're sure he installed Linux on it first thing. Original pic is after the break.

[Abuzar @ May 18th 2008 9:05AM]

Haha, that's amazing!

I want wait to see how this unfolds.

[John @ May 18th 2008 10:49AM]

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.

[Velorium @ May 18th 2008 12:00PM]

Definitely. Either way I gotta say MSI did the better shop job.

[Raymond @ May 18th 2008 12:08PM]

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!

[CraigJ @ May 18th 2008 12:48PM]

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

[iomatic @ May 18th 2008 1:05PM]

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.

[Wwhat @ May 18th 2008 1:33PM]

"License type: Royalty-free"
Geez eh, cheap indeed.

[CraigJ @ May 18th 2008 3:17PM]

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.

[jodonaso @ May 19th 2008 6:10PM]

There's no such thing called bad publicity.. this thing is just making us talk even more about their brands..

[LarryLarryLarry @ May 18th 2008 8:15PM]

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.

[Player1 @ May 19th 2008 5:03PM]

@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.

[wkn @ May 18th 2008 9:05AM]

Actually, for correctness, I think that it is an iBook.

[d @ May 18th 2008 10:41AM]

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?

[JohnTitor @ May 18th 2008 12:23PM]

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

[Phoenix @ May 18th 2008 12:41PM]

Dialup port = RJ11

[Owen McGarry @ May 18th 2008 8:27PM]

Yeah, and the macbooks have a charging port on that side where as the iBooks have it on the other side

[iPriest @ May 18th 2008 3:39PM]

@ 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.

[Nate @ May 18th 2008 4:26PM]

A dial-up internet port is called a "modem". Kids nowadays. :-)

[Derbeste @ May 19th 2008 3:00PM]

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. ;-)

[Puneet @ May 18th 2008 9:08AM]

wtf :?

[Timothy Sottek @ May 18th 2008 9:08AM]

Wow... even 5 year olds using Mac are hipsters.

[Homeboy @ May 18th 2008 9:09AM]

lol, priceless. They almost got away with it.

[NotNormal23224 @ May 18th 2008 12:31PM]

"If it wasn't for you meddling kids!" In the spirit of lifting trademarks, forgive me Scooby-Doo

[The Dude @ May 18th 2008 12:59PM]

@NotNormal:

Ruh-Roh.

[Phil Gilder @ May 18th 2008 9:10AM]

What's worrying is how in the Asus ad he's wearing lipstick and blusher (i think that's blusher anyway)

[Maxwell Ash @ May 18th 2008 10:45AM]

Also worrying...you noticed

[packetsniffer @ May 18th 2008 3:31PM]

@Maxwell Ash
More worrying to me is that you didn't notice. Seriously, how could you not notice that? It looks horrendous.

[Cycomachead @ May 19th 2008 1:09AM]

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....

[SneAKz @ May 18th 2008 9:10AM]

That's an iBook, not a MacBook.

[MRCUR @ May 18th 2008 9:11AM]

That's an iBook... MacBooks don't have modems, nor do they have vents next to the HD.

[Scott @ May 18th 2008 9:53AM]

Nor do they have a barrel charging connector (versus a magsafe), nor do they lack a mic input jack.

[brainz @ May 18th 2008 3:33PM]

@ Scott
The "barrel charging connector" is on the right on iBooks, the slot before the modem is a kensington security slot

[Wolfticket @ May 18th 2008 9:12AM]

Why the even picked that image is a mystery to me. It's hardly ideal for shopping in an alternative product.

[vdogg89 @ May 18th 2008 9:12AM]

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.

[g3n3tix @ May 18th 2008 9:12AM]

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.

[Cal @ May 18th 2008 9:28AM]

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.

[Mr.Gadget Australia @ May 18th 2008 9:13AM]

Busted!!

[DarkLightConnection Unbanned @ May 18th 2008 9:15AM]

PWNED.

[Jonny2hats @ May 18th 2008 9:19AM]

is it really so hard to make a kid go near an eepc that your need to doctor a picture of him using it

[Tom Oliveri @ May 18th 2008 9:47AM]

lol good call

[Darren @ May 18th 2008 11:49AM]

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.

[Drew @ May 18th 2008 9:19AM]

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....

[CL @ May 18th 2008 9:21AM]

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!

[MSIbackgroundmodel2 @ May 18th 2008 1:56PM]

rofl I noticed that too, wow.....

The MSI one is so bad.

[Darkroom @ May 18th 2008 9:25PM]

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.

[yui @ May 18th 2008 10:16PM]

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

[Ondra Soukup @ May 18th 2008 9:23AM]

it's an iBook - see the telephone modem jack and no MagSafe... ?

[bootareen @ May 18th 2008 7:54PM]

i know you! you're from flickr lol

[PA @ May 18th 2008 9:25AM]

Get it? GET A MAC !

[xValentine @ May 18th 2008 9:32AM]

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 ?