The tech companies are?tugging at our heart strings with their advertising lately, and Google has kicked it up a notch. In a Google India advertisement, Google tells the story of a life in three minutes ? and they do it while highlighting their primary product (search) in a beautiful way at the same time.
The ad begins with a young girl sitting with her grandfather looking at an old photograph of two little boys; one of the little boys is her grandfather and the other is his childhood friend, Yusuf. The grandfather explains that he and Yusuf were separated by the 1947 India-Pakistan partition that created India and Pakistan from the old British empire. Thoughtful after the discussion, the granddaughter secretly began a Google search that led to her finding Yusuf. With the help of Yusuf’s grandson, a surprise reunion was arranged for her grandfather’s birthday.
The ad isn’t without controversy. The period of the partition was intense and painful and fostered bitterness between India and Pakistan. With religious violence controlling the region, millions of Muslims and Hindus fled towards the borders. An estimated one million people ? Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs ? were killed in rioting and 12 million people were uprooted and lost their homes. The implication in the ad is that one man is Hindu and the other Muslim.
Abhijit?Avasthi is head of the team that developed the ad. He said that the idea was chosen because of the strong feelings involved.
?Yes, this is a sensitive topic, a part of history with bitter memories? he said. ?But that was the whole point, which is to tell people that those memories are in the past, that there is a way to revive your connection with your lost ones.? (Source)
The fact is, the story told in this ad is based on a true story in a way ? probably hundreds if not thousands of true stories. The internet has changed our lives, changed our relationships, and changed how we reach out to people. The search that the granddaughter in this story conducted is the type of search most of us do often.
Watch the video:
