diff --git a/app/modules/components/avatar/avatar.directive.coffee b/app/modules/components/avatar/avatar.directive.coffee
index 8d8aa8b0..96ea925e 100644
--- a/app/modules/components/avatar/avatar.directive.coffee
+++ b/app/modules/components/avatar/avatar.directive.coffee
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ AvatarDirective = (avatarService) ->
             avatar = avatarService.getAvatar(user, attributeName)
 
             el.attr('src', avatar.url)
-            if avatar.bg
-                el.css('background', avatar.bg)
+            el.css('background', avatar.bg or "")
 
     return {
         link: link
diff --git a/app/modules/services/avatar.service.coffee b/app/modules/services/avatar.service.coffee
index 5049a3ba..be496d9e 100644
--- a/app/modules/services/avatar.service.coffee
+++ b/app/modules/services/avatar.service.coffee
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ class AvatarService
 
         photo = null
 
-        if  user instanceof Immutable.Map
+        if user instanceof Immutable.Map
             gravatar = user.get('gravatar_id')
             photo = user.get(avatarParamName)
         else