Wednesday, May 04, 2011

It Gets Google

This ad ran during “Glee” last night. Think long and hard about when was the last time you saw a gay-themed ad on a major American broadcast network during primetime. No on Bravo. Not on MTV. Not on Logo. On broadcast TV during the “Family Hour.” Yeah, embarassingly hard, isn't it? I’ve been a Firefox gal for years. But, you know what? I just might switch to Chrome.

26 comments:

Kristan said...

Chrome is faster. :)

(But I use Firefox when working in Blogger b/c of a weird bug that puts extra spaces in Chrome.)

Great ad, put me in tears. The It Gets Better Project is something ALL of us can and should get behind, because NO one, least of all a child, should think they are so worthless that they take their own life. Every single one of those news stories breaks my heart.

Change has to come from another side, too. It's not just about teaching gay kids to endure. We have to teach all children not to hate others for being different, but to celebrate those differences as being what makes our community stronger and more interesting and more vibrant.

Colleen's Super Rad Blog about nothing said...

Apparently, it gets awesome! I'm 42, and we've come so far! Thanks to Glee and Google and all those brave souls older than me who were out and proud, and Steve Simon from Minnesota and NCLR and you and, and, and, and....

Imagine a day where none of this matters so much! I think I can actually envision it for the first time in my life. So happy.

Silent Bard said...

Work switched to using Google's Enterprise software and it really only works well in Chrome (surprise, surprise) so I've been using it for awhile now and missing my Firefox.

But after last night where I cried through the ad not just cause of the ad content but because of OH MY GOD THIS IS A MAJOR COMPANY DOING A GAY AD ON PRIME TIME... I feel better about my browser. :)

Anonymous said...

I teared up just now.

Megan said...

Tears.

This is wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Plus Brittana fans really needed that message during Glee last night. Also, I think you should switch to Chrome. I'm still bouncing between Firefox but Chrome is significantly faster on my computer and I like the way it organizes tabs and favorites and what not.

chesmd said...

I love chrome and now I love it even more with that ad. I still use firefox occasionally due to some add-ons that haven't been ported to chrome yet but overall I fine it alot more stable, faster and for some reason it just works much better than firefox, safarie or IE.

Cara said...

This melted my heart! I usually FF through the commercials, but I recognized the IGB video and said "HOLD UP!"

I feel like the It Gets Better Project was starting to lose steam just a little, so hopefully this will keep the momentum up.

Also, I love the message that "the web is what you make of it." Good reminder to use our tools for good.

maddyzero said...

So, so amazing. Thanks for sharing this, Ms. Snarker. Even though it's not a photo of you.

Norma Desmond said...

Golly, I seem to have something in my eye... both eyes, actually... I'm just going to go... yeah.

Your friend, Rusty said...

I watch Glee with the household tweener boys and we usually fast-forward through commercials. I figured out what we were about to miss and stopped, rewound, and make sure they saw the entire commercial.

The older boy asked about the project and after the show we spent a 1/2 hour or so watching more videos.

I don't know why he asked but we might have missed out on a great learning opportunity without it.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I'm not gay or a religious fanatic, nacionalist or racist and the most important my philosophy is to let people do whatever they want, i always wandered why people can't do that... ?

LIVE AND LET LIVE!

Karin said...

I love Chrome and after watching the ad last night, I love it even more. I also FF through commercials and stopped when I recognized It Gets Better. Thought the commercial might have been created by Dan Savage himself or Glee, but shocked when I saw the Google Chrome logo at the end (missed the click at the beginning). My girlfriend (and just recently fiancee) and I were both in tears.

sarah said...

While it wasn't all over the US, Basic Rights Oregon had a commercial that aired during Glee several months ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQnXadYHA6E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3eZFhiqD-s&NR=1

Those ads were on tv all the time after that.

Stephanie.h90 said...

That commercial may have made me tear up. I wish there was something like this when I was in high school a few years ago. I relied heavily on AfterEllen and your blog to give me some sort of safe haven for the gayness.

And chrome totally kicks ass... even though google has taken over the internet and I should give my money to less known companies.

Amy said...

I love this!!! <3

Emily said...

I saw this during Glee last night and was literally got tears in my eyes. It may be "just" a commercial, but it meant so much to see it on my TV.

As a girl struggling with who she is and how to come out to homophobic parents, I have a REALLY hard time believing that it gets better. Recently I met a girl at college who I really like and I'm pretty much convinced plays for our team, and I was texting her all throughout last night's Glee. Seeing that commercial, coinciding with everything recently with this girl; it all made me realize for the first time that maybe things will get better. :)

Erica said...

My wife and I just teared up watching that. AMAzing.

TheWeyrd1 said...

I use firefox for personal stuff, IE for business stuff, and Chrome for my day job which recently switched to Google everything...

alice said...

It's rather deeply weird for me to get teary over a commercial, but damn.

Would that 'don't be evil' was a baseline for more companies, so that they didn't stand out from the pack quite so much. But until more corporations get with the program, I'm just so thankful that they're not resting on their laurels.

Karen said...

I've loved Firefox. Now I love Google Chrome. Been using it for about a year now. (Although I still occasionally use Firefox too).

Now I have another reason to love the chrome. It gets better - during primetime. A rare thing these days. Thanks for sharing.

Lisa said...

I love Chrome and Google but to use this to promote a browser? I don't like it. I don't want to be exploited by Google.

Tiffany said...

I have a chronic browser dissatisfaction problem that leads me to trying every single one I can possibly find. And Chrome is superior to all the others in virtually every way. Runs more cleanly, smaller memory footprint, teh pretty... And their ads are fantastic and make me cry. So there's that too. I'm hoping they air this more than once.

ken_e said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ken_e said...

Chrome is faster and I use it daily now. However, it lacks some of the functionality of Firefox and doesn't provide for many of the Firefox apps that I frequently use. I only use IE to check on web sites that don't work properly in either Firefox or Chrome. I see no reason not to use more than one browser, since none do everything I require.

Nox said...

late to the Party again...

those IGP videos always have me in tears... even though i've grown up and I know now that it can, I can still feel some of that old fear and loathing from time to time.

I dunno that I like the idea of google quietly coopting the phrase, but I'm actually really happy to anyone step up like that with some support by association in a prime time slot.

I still like Firefox better, simply because it has the tools I want and use the most, but maybe I'll throw a little extra support back and try to make things more friendly to bridge the gap... one good turn deserves another.