Parisian Love is a television commercial created by Google.
Visually, the entire ad takes place in either the Google search field or in a series of Google search result fields.
One views the protagonist, an anonymous computer user, manipulating a cursor and pointer, searching his way through time – from, for example, “study abroad paris france” to “impress a french girl” to “long distance relationship advice” to “churches in paris” to “how to assemble a crib.”
Underscoring this narrative is a driving piano anthem collaged with sound effects such as an airplane taking off, a “How to Learn French” tape, church bells, and, finally, a baby laughing.
In each search, a dramatic tension rises as the user types in her queries word by word, performing the act of searching.
It begins when the user types in the word “study.”
Before typing in another word, however, Google instantaneously supplies him with a plethora of likely options such as “study island,” “study abroad,” “study Spanish,” “study skills.”
So, study what?
“study abroad”
Again, Google spits out an instantaneous list of “study abroad” options.
We’ve got “study abroad scholarships,” “study abroad programs,” “study abroad italy,” “study abroad australia.”
So, study abroad where?
“study abroad paris france.”
Is this what you were searching for?
It is.
Search it.
Google does so and the user moves his pointer around the first two search results:
1. “Study Abroad in France, Search Study Abroad Programs in France”
Or
2. “Study abroad programs in Paris, France – Study French in France – CEA.”
We cut in close as the protagonist is forced to choose between the two options.
Which will it be?
He’s unconventional, so he goes with the second one instead of the first.
The sound of an airplane taking off appears as the piano changes key and we jump forward in time as the user searches for “cafes near the louve.”
A list of search results appears along with a question posed by Google:
“Did you mean: cafes near the louvre”
And so on and so on and so on and so on and so on until we are faced with a blinking cursor on a blank text field as the user spells out the query:
“how…”
“to…”
“assemble a crib”
Google it.
The next thing one views is the slogan – “Search on.” – (an updating of Nike’s “Just Do It”) as it cuts in over the sound of a baby laughing.
On the one hand, the ad shows us that our lives can be marked by Google searches.
But, on the other hand, on a perhaps deeper level, it shows one that life can be marked by endless searching, never doing it, but working towards it and changing it as one grows and learns.
As the user enters search queries, one views less the drama of action (just do it), and more the drama of evolution (search on).