Read Matthew Syed today on racist cliches in sport

Intel, the computer chip maker, has been forced to apologise for an advertisement which has been widely criticised as racist.

The ad, which was for a new generation of micro-processors, showed six black sprinters crouched in the start position in front of a white man wearing a shirt and chinos in an office.

Above the image was a slogan which read: "Multiply computer performance and maximise the power of your employees."

Blogs were quick to spot the connotation of a white master surveying a group of black workers apparently bowed at his feet.

In a statement on its website, Intel said: "We made a bad mistake. I know why and how, but that simply doesn't make it better."

It was intended that the advertisement "convey the performance capabilities of our processors through a number of visual metaphors," Don MacDonald, director of global marketing for the company, wrote.

"Unfortunately, this ad using African-American sprinters did not deliver our intended message, and in fact proved to be culturally insensitive and insulting."

Gizmodo, the technology blog which spotted the ad, said of the picture: "Lousy, barely subliminal, racist advertising, or just plain lousy advertising?"

The Register, a technology news site, said in its analysis: "While the white man's smug jubilation is apparently derived from choosing the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, there are some pretty sinister undertones in the advertisement."

Intel said it had pulled the ad from hundreds of publications, but was unable to stop two which had already shipped.

The California-based company said it had identified "specific steps" in its ad reviewal process, and would rely on these, as well as "just more common sense", to guard against a similar incident in the future.

Intel, which recently reported second quarter revenues of $8.7 billion (£4.3 billion), is relying heavily on a new breed of 'multi-core processors' in the war with its long term rival, AMD.

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