North Star Writers Group

The color version of the ad shows a manager in casual attire (like a geek) standing in an aisle between rows of desks. Crouched in a sprinter’s stance between the desks are two rows of employees. The point presumably is how the new, bigger, shinier, faster processor being advertised can jump start employee productivity.

The message is drowned out by the immediate visual: A white male surrounded by all black employees who, at first glance, appear to be bowing to him.

For sheer stupidity and insensitivity, Intel Corp., which paid for the ad, and its advertising agency, McCann Erickson, deserve any and all raspberries and brickbats they get.

A different version, according to one blogger, appeared in media in India (the black-and-white version of the ad). Same picture in every detail except the geek overseer looks Indian instead of European.

If race were not a subtext in this ad, why would the version for India show an Indian manager instead of a white manager? This question was e-mailed to an Intel spokesperson who did not reply.

There’s another subtext, even more disturbing than the noxious racial stereotyping. Step back a bit, this ad is yet another piece of not-so-subtle corporate messaging about the status of all employees of every color and in every country. We call the shots. Workers are nothing but indistinguishable and interchangeable cost centers to be driven as hard and as fast as possible and then thrown away when no longer useful.

Think about it. Sprinters run at top speed for short distances and times. They are not in it for the long haul. By using the image of the sprinter for speed, Intel is also saying that employees will be on the payroll not one second longer than necessary to get the work done. This is very much in keeping with the management-by-project mentality that has taken hold in business over the past 15 years or so.

The theory is that companies gather teams to work at top and unsustainable speeds on short-term projects, under a project manager (like the Anglo/Indian geeks in the ads). Once a project is complete, the team disbands and the paychecks disappear unless and until team members are hired for a new project. The reality is episodic employment, or desperate contractors. It started first in the IT field but has spread across multiple industries, fanned by the pandemic of corporate greed.

From a bean counter viewpoint, contract labor makes a great deal of sense because it can dramatically cut payroll costs. Is it too far-fetched, however, to suggest that this cuts both ways? Should businesses expect loyalty or even top-notch performance from workers whose ties to the company are tenuous at best? Do they even care anymore?

The ads from Intel suggest the answer: Of course not.

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