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This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

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Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#261
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm Dutch, and people from the east of Netherland don't understand why I don't understand German, claiming the languages are so similar. But I have real trouble understanding German. Maybe when it's someone from the north-west of Germany who speaks very slowly and clearly. People from the east of Netherland have much less trouble, somehow. (I'm utterly unable to understand people from the Dutch province of Zeeland wh…

I'm from Australia and I can't understand from the Australian province New Zealand.

"Australia's gotta become one country first."

The reply from former NZ Prime Minister Rob Muldoon when asked if NZ would ever become part of Australia.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#262
post #64

Colour me cynical, but when a corporation is under fire from consumers, regulators and activists, a soppy and heartstring-tugging ad is exactly what the doctors order . It is literally Google saying, "Oh look, cute puppies!" when faced with a global barrage of criticism about its disdain for user privacy or its own past promises.

[deleted]

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#263
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a. Google isn't just another "large consumer company" b. Google being "always under fire" by consumers, regulators and activists is no reason to start letting it off the hook. In fact, it should be the converse.

I'm sure the people (read: individuals) who thought up this ad and executed it had their hearts in the right place. Just enjoy it for what it is. Not everything has to be viewed with such cynicism.

Have you ever worked at an advertising agency?

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#264
post #2

This is the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE - be sure to have subtitles on (unless you understand Hindi). One interesting observation about the ad: the search results that the girl deems to be good and informative are almost all Wikipedia hits. It's actually pretty similar to my situation: Google is basically a better Wikipedia searching tool than what Wikipedia provides.

This is the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE - be sure to have subtitles on (unless you understand Hindi).

Played the clip to some people in the house, they got teary eyed. Don't need a translation to get the message across which just proves it's a very well made ad.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motivation is all. To created purely to give pleasure to people is one thing, it is an act of generosity and altruism, if it is done to manipulate, then it is something very different. PR and advertising are manipulations. The worst thing is to see something like this, allow it to emotionally effect one, then discover at the end that is is a corporate manipulation. Dunno about others, but that makes me feel used.

All ads should make you feel used. If you don't then they have succeeded! There is no information-only ad.

Disagree. If that were the case people would not buy, as being "used" is negative. One is supposed to happily buy.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motivation is all. To created purely to give pleasure to people is one thing, it is an act of generosity and altruism, if it is done to manipulate, then it is something very different. PR and advertising are manipulations. The worst thing is to see something like this, allow it to emotionally effect one, then discover at the end that is is a corporate manipulation. Dunno about others, but that makes me feel used.

>>The worst thing is to see something like this, allow it to emotionally effect one, then discover at the end that is is a corporate manipulation. This is literally the entire advertising industry's purpose. If you think any single advertisement is not solely intended to trick you into equating good feelings with a particular brand, product, or person then you are very naive. There is no such thing as advertisement t…

I never said or implied any of that. I don't think you understood anything I said.

Firstly, I out lined a scenario where one didn't know the piece was an advert, and later discovered it was.

Second, I never said or implied an advert was to give pleasure.

If you want to call me naive, I then have to suggest you may be illiterate, or a at best imaginative.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What magical action did you have in mind?

I don't, really. My point is that Google has shown that they're willing to act. Here's the article that was submitted to HN about a recent thing: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=12330&MediaType=1&Ca... Here's the HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4213162

I understand what you mean, but these two conflicts are nowhere near the same scale. Social rights issues have a lot of work done by lots of dedicated people over decades, until they reach a tipping point. A for-profit corporation, no matter how good at marketing, will not stake their financial health by going against massive consensus, they just don't have the political/financial freedom to do that. If they had to pick between India and Pakistan in an actual war, they would take sides according to their interest or get out of both, but that's about it.

Mainly though, the scale here is way off. Apologies for the sarcastic reply before.

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't, really. My point is that Google has shown that they're willing to act. Here's the article that was submitted to HN about a recent thing: http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=12330&MediaType=1&Ca... Here's the HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4213162

I understand what you mean, but these two conflicts are nowhere near the same scale. Social rights issues have a lot of work done by lots of dedicated people over decades, until they reach a tipping point. A for-profit corporation, no matter how good at marketing, will not stake their financial health by going against massive consensus, they just don't have the political/financial freedom to do that. If they had to p…

No, I agree. In no way did I mean to suggest that Google was going to take the role of a UN with teeth, to mediate between different countries.

It would be more accurate for me to say that Google has a demonstrated willingness to allow their employees to contribute to political activism using company resources. Absolutely, it has a selfish motive, but it's a central principle of capitalism to leverage selfish motives into public goods. (No comment on the principle itself.)

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#269
post #10

The original concept was produced in a video by Pak Sar Zameen Productions on December 12, 2012 http://www.hotpaknews.com/2013/11/did-google-stole-the-idea-...

Naw, this goes way back. The group Junoon had Ghoom Taana. And lots more before that. It's not a rip off

Sorry. No cc https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=86...

Re: This Google ad has moved people to tears across India and Pakistan

#270
post #183
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or rather you can bookmark everything, but the resulting list is nearly useless. I used to have a massive collection of bookmarks that I never referred to because it was far too large to actually use. Plus half the links had gone stale.

I'd like to suggest adopting something akin to the Dewey decimal system for your bookmarks. You don't have to create folders and subfolders but just prepend the number to the bookmark title. That way they get ordered in an alphabetic list.

In my experience, sorting by domain is usually enough.
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