While most people are aware of AI as a general concept, there is still a general lack of awareness of all that is occurring within the industry.
AI AND HUMAN EMOTION
Google stepped on an ad landmine, and it exploded, forcing it to withdraw the ad from its Olympic rotation.
The ad in question was its “Dear Sydney” ad, in which a young girl wants to write a fan letter to Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Her father tells her the letter has to be “just right,” suggesting that she get Google’s Gemini AI to write the first draft of the letter.
The response to the ad didn’t take long to come and can be summed up in the words of Linda Holmes, a pop culture correspondent at NPR who wrote on BlueSky Social.
This commercial showing somebody having a child use AI to write a fan letter to her hero SUCKS. Obviously there are special circumstances and people who need help, but as a general “look how cool, she didn’t even have to write anything herself!” story, it SUCKS. Who wants an AI-written fan letter??
On the one hand, Google’s blunder is another example of a brand getting its messaging wrong; however, what makes this blunder particularly interesting is the reaction to AI's intrusion into family relationships and the underlying anxiety many have about AI's impact.
There are several areas where Google got it wrong.
The intrusion of technology and AI into family relationships
Traditionally, parents have helped their children write fan letters, letters to Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy. This interaction of parent and child isn’t simply the act of writing a letter; there is a deeper symbolic level to the activity. At the symbolic level, it is the engagement of a parent willing to assist a child in expressing their dreams, creativity, desires and, in the case of fans, their admiration for what another person is achieving. It speaks to the heart of parenting, which is to nurture and encourage the creativity and expression of a child.
The ad crashes through the symbolic level and asserts the power of technology to “get it right”. By ignoring the symbolic act of a parent helping a child write a letter, the ad brought to the surface many people’s fears and concerns about the impact of technology on our lives.
In this regard, Google’s ad failure is similar to Apple’s blunder earlier in the year with its Crush ad, which demonstrates that Google did not learn from Apple’s failure. Both ads demonstrate that consumers react when tech corporations co-opt intimate human experiences to advertise a new product. People remain sceptical about technology, particularly when it touches on sentimental or heartfelt themes.
The other messaging misstep with this ad is having the father surrender the opportunity to assist his daughter and replace the father/daughter interaction with technology. At a time when the mother still performs most of the parenting, and men are often seen at best incidental and at worst detrimental within the home, Google subtly reinforces that the father/daughter relationship can be better facilitated with technology.
Getting it right v’s human qualities of perseverance and authenticity
The ad's emphasis on getting the girl’s letter right contrasts the experience of many Olympic sportspeople who got it wrong on many occasions and kept practising through frustration, tears, and, in many instances, pain.
One aspect of the Olympic spirit is the ability to persevere and keep going when things are not working out. The ad's emphasis on getting it right is at odds with this spirit, something the public intuitively knew and which Google missed.
Even the simple act of writing a letter requires perseverance when you can’t find the right words and the determination to finish and send the letter rather than give up and throw away what has been attempted. There is no need to persevere or develop the determination to complete the task when AI can do it for you and get “it right.”
Dr James R Doty, a Stanford University neuroscientist, also expressed concern at the commercial's premise that AI can replace authentic human expression and goal setting. According to Doty, encouraging a child to take the time to contemplate and write about why they adore their hero and want to emulate them can be an essential part of goal setting.
The drive to use AI to ‘get it right’ overlooks this aspect of goal setting and authentic human expression.
CREATIVITY AND THE IMPACT OF AI
Authentic human expression and perseverance are part of the spirit of creativity.
Many creatives, such as musicians and visual artists, have raised the alarm about the growing impact of AI on their industry. In April 2024, more than 200 artists, including Billie Eilish, Kacey Musgraves, J Balvin, Ja Rule, Jon Bon Jovi, The Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, and Miranda Lambert, were signatories to an open letter calling on AI developers, technology companies and digital music services to stop the use of artificial intelligence to devalue the rights of human artists.
Concern over AI was a central issue in the Hollywood Writers' strike. Yet, despite these concerns, companies continue to invest in and roll out AI that impacts the lives and livelihoods of many creative people.
This ad, suggesting that AI could replace a child's creative desire to write to their hero, tapped into the underlying concern many have about the impact of technology and AI, particularly on human expression and creativity.
Dr James R Doty, a Stanford University neuroscientist, also expressed concern at the commercial's premise that AI can replace authentic human expression and goal setting.
Brands ignoring fundamentals
It would appear that Google and Apple both blundered with their ads by ignoring brand fundamentals for marketing. Two of the fundamentals that seem to have been ignored are:
● Know and understand your clients, particularly their concerns and apprehensions; and
● Marketing needs to keep pace with where customers are. Go too far ahead, and the risk is that the customer’s fears and anxieties will be activated.
Know and understand your clients, particularly their concerns and apprehensions
One of the fundamentals of marketing is for brands to know their clients. To this end, many brands, including Google, collect voluminous data on clients and customers to help them understand their target customer group.
However, customers and clients are always more than data. People are driven by hopes, fears, anxieties, and expectations, which are drives and emotions that data rarely picks up. If brands concentrate on data and are not actively engaged in social listening to pick up people’s fears, concerns and hopes, the result can be the backlash that Google and Apple experienced.
Given Apple’s earlier experience, Google should have been aware that consumers react negatively when large tech corporations try to co-opt intimate human experiences and connections to try to sell a new product.
Even though people use technology, general usage does not imply wholehearted acceptance of technology, particularly advanced technology. People remain suspicious and sceptical about technology and its impact on their lives and relationships.
This brings us to the second fundamental of marketing that seems to have been ignored.
Marketing needs to keep pace with where customers and clients are at
Given the rapid growth and development occurring in AI, there is a disconnect between those working in the industry who can see the advantages and benefits and the wider community's perception.
While most people are aware of AI as a general concept, there is still a general lack of awareness of all that is occurring within the industry. This lack of knowledge and understanding is combined with real concerns around privacy issues, data confidentiality, and AI's impact on people’s lives. Given the power of AI to create deep fakes, these concerns are valid.
The benefit Google is receiving from AI is immense:
● AI has played a crucial role in the growth of Google Cloud. In the second quarter of 2024, Google’s Cloud revenue passed $10 billion, and the operating profit topped $1 billion.
● AI enhancements have also benefited YouTube and other Google services, contributing to overall revenue growth. For example, the total revenue for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, in 2023 was $307.39 billion, a 9% growth over the previous year.
Given the revenue increase, Google could easily have assumed there was more community support for its AI, which they could leverage in the ad.
However, the backlash to the ad reveals the disconnect between Google’s love of AI and the benefits it receives and the general community’s concerns and fears about the impact of technology in daily life and particularly in close human relationships.
Google’s ad was tone-deaf to the broader community on many levels and consequently received a negative response. While this glitch won’t negatively impact Google in the long term, it is a reminder of our uneasy relationship with AI and advanced technologies.
While individuals may use technology and AI to make their lives easier, there is still an underlying fear or concern about a dystopian future in which AI dominates creativity and human relationships.
The Olympics is a time when communities celebrate the endurance, creativity, and commitment of the human spirit, and juxtaposing the achievements of the human spirit with the interference of AI was a clash that wasn’t going to go over well.
