War over a typo

[draggar]

I have a friend in our feedback and testing department and they normally receive communications from the manufacturers about up and coming phones, who to sell them to, key features, etc.

Well, one company made quite a typo and it's causing quite a stir with this department.

Key Benefits to the Customer
• This phone is ideal for customers who are influencers within their organization. Targets would be white color professionals within the GB and Enterprise sector as well as the SOHO owner. This device may appeal to customers that may not have previously thought of (phone) as an option.

(emphasis mine to show the typo - model removed for NDA etc.)

For those of you outside the USA, the workforce is divided into two parts "blue collar" and "white collar". Blue collar being the "grunts" (workers, customer facing, etc.) and "white collar being the executives, etc..

It is also something that most spell checkers would not pick up on.

Clearly this is a typo (and it is intended for people in the USA to read this) but some people are causing quite the stir over this typo. My question is - a typo like this a big problem, is it possible that a very large wireless manufacturer is thinking that way, or are some people being over sensitive?

[jackfaire]

I vote overly sensitive it clearly wasn't meant on purpose. It would be different if the two words bore no resemblence to each other.

[Green_Fairy]

personally, i think that's obviously a typo. anyone that's offended by it needs to take a chill pill. if it read "Targets would be caucasian professionals," then they can be all butt hurt. but it was an honest mistake.

[bunnyboy]

All I have to say is I laughed a little, and then had to think of the "Promotions!" Image Macro from a certain imageboard.

[Boozy]

I'm thinking that if someone were to misspell "collar" as "colar" or "collor", then a spelling auto-correct program might interpret that as "color". And there you have it; a terribly unfortunate typo.

[HYHYBT]

I don't see why anyone would think it *wasn't* a typo; if it meant what it actually says, it wouldn't be worded that way.

[Parrothead]

Is it sad that I read the typo and immediately thought of the "ground black people" typo?

[jackfaire]

This whole thing reminds me of a story that had an alien race invading our galaxy and destroying all life when they came on the last human they spoke to him. When he asked what they had against the Milky Way he double checked his orders, "Oh man this isn't Andromeda?"

[BlaqueKatt]

silly me...I'd be thinking albino professionals would be a pretty small market....Caucasians are more peachy or pinkish....

[protege]

...and apparently Blaquekatt doesn't know too many IT people

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I don't see why anyone would think it *wasn't* a typo; if it meant what it actually says, it wouldn't be worded that way.

Oh I'm pretty sure that they knew gorram well that it was a typo. As evidenced on Customers Suck and numerous other similar sites there are people who are itching to find something they can get their panties into a twist over and play the Righteously Indignant Martyr over it.

[jackfaire]

Oh I'm pretty sure that they knew gorram well that it was a typo. .

Using fictional swearing FTW!

[Dreamstalker]

I'm thinking that if someone were to misspell "collar" as "colar" or "collor", then a spelling auto-correct program might interpret that as "color". And there you have it; a terribly unfortunate typo.

That was my thinking; our spell-check program has been known to replace errors with words that are close to what we want, but not exactly (which isn't caught until a final readthrough).

[draggar]

Using fictional swearing FTW!

According to where that came from it is not fictional (apparently they had some Chinese people (yes, from China) hired as advisors to keep them up on the latest slang).