On October 15, 1860, a young girl from Westfield, New York wrote a fan letter to Abraham Lincoln. In it, eleven-year-old Grace Greenwood Bedell suggested that growing a beard might improve Lincoln’s chances of being elected President:
“I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.”
Lincoln was so charmed by the girl’s letter that he responded four days later:
“As to the whiskers,” Lincoln wrote, “never having worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin it now?”
Lincoln did grow whiskers as the girl suggested, and several weeks later he was elected the sixteenth President of the United States. Remember this story—it will make more sense as we go on.
I want to talk about a couple of ads that are running during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Well, one is running. The other has two left feet. Interestingly, both ads revolve around the theme of parenting.
Ads during the Olympics are often hit and miss. It’s a bit like advertising during the Super Bowl, but the Olympic Games only come around every four years. It’s an opportunity for brands to strut on the world stage. Even though TV viewership has slumped during the Games since before COVID, advertisers were quick to pony up big dollars to be on this year’s roster.
One spot that, in my opinion, really nails it is Hyundai’s “It’s Okay.” So often, parents of Olympic hopefuls are portrayed as cruel martinets who relentlessly push their progeny to excel at all costs. But the Hyundai spot successfully upends that stereotype by showing parents whose lives are not completely wrapped up in their kids becoming world-class athletes. Instead, we see scenes where sensitive parents take a softer approach, showing us they believe that their kids’ mental health and well being ought to be the first priority. The acting is superb, and even though we see Hyundai vehicles throughout the spot, it feels more like background product placement than full-on branding.
On the losing side, Google’s Olympics spot for its Gemini AI product continues big tech’s tone-deaf trend. First, Apple gave us the roundly reviled spot about crushing our conventional creative tools into its new iPad that was pulled shortly after it began airing. Now Google enters the fray, proving it is every bit as clueless about how to market its AI offering as anyone else.
Gemini AI was launched by Google in December of last year. This artificial intelligence model is broadly advertised to provide “…help with writing, brainstorming, learning, and more…” It’s worth noting that until now, in regard to the “brainstorming” part, the world’s great discoveries have all been made without the help of AI. Michelangelo sculpted his David, Beethoven composed his Fifth Symphony, and Einstein developed his theory or relativity without it.
It’s also worth noting that Google has already invested $63 billion in AI development—which coincidentally is the same dollar amount as the annual budget Maryland lawmakers just sent Governor Wes Moore to sign. Needless to say, Google is earnestly trying to turn those development billions into revenue. The basic version of Google Gemini is free, but it’s anything but robust. Google’s aim is to get you to subscribe to Gemini Advanced for $19.99 a month for the rest of your natural—or maybe “artificial” life is more appropriate here.
So here’s a spot for Google Gemini narrated by a dad whose Olympic-hopeful daughter is writing a fan letter to her hero—world-record-setting hurdler Sydney McLaughlin Levrone. Because it’s such an important letter, Dad wants to make sure that it hits all the right notes. His solution: use Gemini AI to help write the letter. How about this for a solution instead, Dad? Get your pants out of a twist, shut your laptop, and actually spend some quality time with your kid and help her write the letter—with a pen and a piece of paper, its authentic ragged edge torn from a spiral notebook.
What AI can’t supply to the task at hand is heart. I’m talking about the honesty and authenticity that was clear in Grace Bedell’s letter to Lincoln. Google manages to combine bad parenting and bad advertising in a single spot. In my opinion, everyone in the viewing stands needs to give it a “thumbs down.”
We’re all excited about the possibilities of AI. But Google, this isn’t it.
