Anika Begay
Google won’t win any gold medals for its Olympic ads this year. After days of backlash, the company has decided to pull its controversial “Dear Sydney” ad from its Olympic coverage.
In the 60-second spot, a father attempts to write a fan letter on behalf of his daughter to her Olympic idol, American track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The premise is the kind of corny ad you’d expect to see at the Olympics, but things take a turn for the worse when, instead of helping his daughter write a letter, he simply has Gemini write the letter. “It’s got to be really perfect,” he says, before prompting Gemini to tell Sydney how inspiring she is, that her daughter plans to break her record one day, and to add a “sorry, but not sorry” quip at the end.
From the start, the ad drew the ire of the Internet. Many slammed the social media ad for missing the point of writing a fan letter at all. (Which is, ostensibly, creating a heart-to-heart, person-to-person connection, showing vulnerability and expressing how much your hero’s work has impacted your life.) Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri wrote a critical piece in which she said she wants to “throw a bat at the television every time I see it.” Others have pointed out that advertising encourages people to take the easy way out instead of practicing self-expression.
Meanwhile, in a statement to multiple sources, Google acknowledged the negative feedback but said the ad wasn’t meant to imply that Gemini could completely replace humans. The ad was meant to “show how the Gemini app can provide a jumping-off point, food for thought, or an initial draft for someone looking for ideas for their own writing.”
It wouldn’t be the first time big tech has stepped in to try to showcase the power of AI in an ad. A few months ago, Apple faced criticism for its “Crush” ad, which showed a hydraulic press crushing creative tools into a shiny new iPad. People were understandably shocked by the imagery, especially since AI has sparked fears that the technology will steal and replace the jobs of writers, artists, performers, and other creatives.
At the heart of the matter, tech companies are still having trouble reading the room when it comes to AI. With the “Dear Sydney” ad, it’s not even about AI stealing jobs. Humans in general crave authentic connection. What makes a fan letter valuable is the knowledge that someone took time out of their busy life to express what you or your work means to them. It’s hard to imagine McLaughlin-Levrone I wouldn’t do it be moved by a rambling letter written by a child, with a few typos or grammatical errors.
Ironically, the father’s words that preceded his Gemini suggestion were pretty spot on. In contrast, the glimpses you can see of Gemini’s draft look more like a standard cover letter. Google may have wanted to show that Gemini is good at starting a draft, but it failed to understand that work emails are one thing, but personal letters are another. Writing them shouldn’t be easy. Being nervous, pushing through, and still sending your sincere feelings—that’s that’s the whole point.
