Google Duo holiday ads take a subtle dig at Apple to remind us the app also works on iPhones
Obviously, Google Duo is significantly more popular on Android devices than iPhones, having already exceeded 500 million Play Store installs and nearing 3 million ratings with a decent 4.6-star average.
The three commercials are rather short and sweet, arguably managing to drive their main point home... while taking a subtle yet efficient dig at Apple. Can you spot the cheeky wordplay? Let us help you out if you can’t.
In two of the three short clips recently uploaded to Google’s official YouTube channel, the narrator and protagonist complains her nice holiday face-to-face-time with her estranged brother would abruptly come to an end after Christmas were it not for the Android and iOS-compatible Duo platform. Face-to-face time, get it? Face to FaceTime...
The point is Apple’s proprietary video calling service doesn’t support Androids, so if you have a Pixel 3 XL and want to communicate with an iPhone-owning family member, Duo is the way to go. Or Skype, or WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger, or countless other similar apps.
That’s not part of Google’s latest advertising blitz, obviously, which instead includes a badly photoshopped Pixel 3 XL picture as the thumbnail for one of the three new videos. As many YouTube commenters were quick to point out, the phone’s notch is camouflaged and its chin is non-existent. Oh, well, at least the device shown in the actual commercials is the real deal.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: