Somewhere, there’s a handful of Microsoft marketing contractors getting fired. That’s an easy conclusion to make from the PR blunder stemming from a Microsoft developers event in Norway that included some dancing girls — and some embarrassing lyrics accompanying their routine.
As reported by GeekWire, the dance routine took place at an event in Norway that was intended to promote some new advances in Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing platform, advancements meant to deliver a “hybrid cloud” combining the best of both on-premise and off-premise functionality.
Someone apparently couldn’t just stick to the subject. Ahead of Microsoft’s presentation at the Norwegian Developers Conference in Oslo, was this cheesecake-y dance routine — which, by itself, might have been obnoxious but near some marginally acceptable, if off-topic, borderline. But then came the lyrics, played during the routine and flashed on video screens: “The words MICRO and SOFT don’t apply to my penis.”
Frank Shaw, head of corporate communications for Microsoft, tweeted today that the routine — some of which you can see in the video below — was “inappropriate and just not okay.”
The audience was not amused, and slammed the software firm on Twitter, The Herald Sun reports.
"For those not here, we had flashing disco lights, bad lyrics about penis, disco beats and dancing azure girls, so cringeworthy," one programmer tweeted.
"Wow #microsoft this music thing is probably the most embarrassing i've ever seen and heard," said another tweeter.
According to the report, Microsoft's head of corporate communications, Frank Shaw, later apologized on the micro blogging site.
"This routine had vulgar language, was inappropriate and was just not ok. We apologize to our customers and partners," Shaw tweeted.
Microsoft had already sought to apologize for the routine. It posted comments on YouTube videos of the routine, saying:
“This week’s Norwegian Developer’s Conference included a skit that involved inappropriate and offensive elements and vulgar language. We apologize to our customers and our partners and are actively looking into the matter.”
Every so often, satellite marketing offices wander off the reservation from how the home office does things. I’ve got a message in to Shaw, trying to find out what happened. Until then, here’s a sample of what all the fuss is about:
