“For years, our phones have captured our memories,” reads the text at the start of Google Pixel’s commercial for Super Bowl LVII. Some memories were best left lost to time. Wedding photos with poorly-chosen dates. Dogs doing their business in the background. Dudes in dayglo orange speedos. Such pains affect us all – even A-listers like Amy Schumer. As the spot showcases the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro’s Magic Eraser tool, Amy is shocked to see it could help erase some huge mistakes. “I can erase my exes?” she asks.
From there, she saves a photo of her at the Oscars, a picture of her with a “Steve Buscemi from Slaves of New York”-lookalike, and a guy running her vacation photo. “I don’t even remember this guy,” she says. Meanwhile, NBA star Giannis Antetokoumnpo uses the Magic Eraser to help delete an embarrassing “highlight” during a game. “What dunk?” he asks.
However, that’s not the only feature that makes the Google Pixel stand out. As Doja Cat‘s fans discover, the Photo Unblur feature can save a selfie with your favorite artist from being a mess. Plus, the new Photo Unblur feature can work on photos taken on a different device. Even old pictures taken on actual cameras. “Now it’s giving,” says a pink-haired Doja after the photo is fixed.
“Pictures capture life. Just like life, pictures can be blurry,” Doja says in a statement released with the commercial. “With Pixel’s new Photo Unblur feature, you can clean up a messy picture. Now, if Google could create the same button for life, that would be great.”
“We all have that one picture that’s almost perfect. Mine is of me and Michael Jordan at NBA All-Star weekend back in the day,” writes Daryl Butler, Vice President, U.S. Devices & Services Marketing for Google. “This photo would have been on my wall instead of just on my phone all these years if I could have tweaked it, just a little. And now I can, with just a few taps right from my Pixel 7 Pro.
“I know so many others who share a similar story, which is why this year’s Super Bowl ad, “Fixed on Pixel,” takes a lighthearted look at those photos we all have that need a little bit of fixing. Featuring cameos from actress and infamous photobomber Amy Schumer, Team Pixel partner and NBA athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo, and musical artist Doja Cat, watch how Pixel can help make your photos even better. The ad continues our longstanding tradition of demonstrating the helpfulness of Google’s products and technology to solve real problems – whether they’re big or small.”
The 2023 commercial comes one year after Google partnered with Lizzo for a Super Bowl commercial about Google Pixel’s Real Tone technology. Historically, photo technology has been optimized for a certain kind of skin tone, leaving Black and other POC faces to suffer blurry, dark, and poorly taken photos. Different skin tones require different lighting, and a lack of diverse testing in the past meant that cameras carry with them an inherent bias.
Google sought to fix that with its Real Tone technology, allowing for better face detection, recognizing all facial features (not just those associated with lighter skin tones), a better white balance for sharper and more dynamic photos, and a modified autoexposure feature to make all skin tones look natural and gorgeous. The commercial also raised awareness of the struggles that certain people have faced and how better technology means better photos and better memories.
The best part is that Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro also have Real Tone tech, meaning that everyone can make use of the new model’s tech. Unblurry, ex-less memories for all!