Google will always have Paris.

On Sunday, while plowing through the Super Bowl ads on YouTube, I was a little harsh regarding the Google ad that follows. I summed it up as either the worst Choose Your Own Adventure Book or text-based game ever. Here it is for your consumption:



In my defense, I watched the ad after a series of big budget hooey awash in cartoon violence and misogyny. So, the rather modest production values, or simplicity in execution, underwhelmed me. Also, I thought then, and still think, it's a bit mawkish. A bit too much.

But you know what? It's a rather clever ad. The Google brand is front and centre all through the ad. The focus is on how you experience or use it. It tells a story rather well, and in 52 seconds. It's a more compelling narrative than, say, most Hollywood blockbusters. Or, for that matter, most of the ads on Sunday night.

I understand it has been a viral success, but it still strikes me as the wrong ad for the Super Bowl. I mean, given the stereotypes paraded around on Sunday, the last thing you'd expect most young males to do is to go to France, much less watch French films. And thus, my rather dismissive reaction. So this is a mea culpa, of sorts.

Meanwhile, it has inspired a parody...