SEATTLE , Washington ( CNN ) -- Software giant Microsoft apologized Wednesday for the apparent bad judgment that led to the head of a black model being swapped for that of a white model in an online advertisement . A black man in an online Microsoft ad was replaced with a white man , bottom , on the company 's Polish Web site . The ad -- which showed three business people , one Asian , one white and one black -- was altered on Microsoft 's Web site for Poland to place the head of a white man on a black man 's body . `` We apologized , fixed the error and we are looking into how it happened , '' said Lou Gellos , a Microsoft spokesman . He said that because the company was still reviewing how the swap occurred he could not comment further . On Microsoft 's official page on the social network site Twitter , a posting calls the swap `` a marketing mistake '' and offers `` sincere apologies . '' The episode drew widespread criticism on the Internet after Engadget , an influential tech blog , published news of the gaffe Tuesday . The business Web site CNET.com wrote that the change in models may have been made with the `` racially homogeneous '' Polish market in mind . CNET is a CNN.com content partner .
Microsoft apologizes for a gaffe in an announcement on its official web site . Ad was designed to replace a black businessman 's image with that of a white man . ` ` We are looking into how it happened , '' says a Microsoft spokesman .