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Mr. Rogers' Lilting Voice Narrates Google's Latest Pixel 3 Ad
Won't you be my gorgeously filtered neighbor?
We learn so much by wondering.
Few things touch people of a certain generation like the voice of Fred Rogers, whose patience and improbable, unassailable goodness haunts us like a reminder of what the world could be, because he was.
Google takes advantage of this in its latest Pixel 3 ad, titled “The Power to Wonder.”
Directed by Terrence Malick for Droga5, which just this summer defended its Google account successfully (while winning some G Suite work besides), Mr. Rogers singsongs softly through his “Did You Know?” performance from 1979. Each shot is bright, saturated, guileless—a study in the diversity not only of wonderers but of the beautiful nothings that compose our surroundings, both natural and human-borne.
It’s a soothing little piece of promotional ballet, and nicely contextualizes the Pixel 3’s powerful camera and intuitive, wonder-facilitating features.
The only complaint we have, really, is existential: How would Google respond to the argument that compulsively framing a moment often just takes us out of it? What would Mr. Rogers himself think of a generation that mostly filters wonder through Snap, Instagram Stories and rhetorical social media questions?
Pointless to speculate. As Wieden + Kennedy and its mobile client Three taught us yesterday, this is the world now … and aren’t we all the better for it?
Angela Natividad is the European markets editor at Muse by Clio. She also writes about gaming and fashion, and whatever else she’s interested in, really. She’s based in Paris and North Italy, so if you’re local, say hi. She might eat all your food.
