Google‘s latest ad shows how the search service can help businesses find customers and vice versa. But it’s also about so much more than simply finding a gym. The video, which you can and should watch below, follows the empowering story of Jake’s transition from female to male and how technology helped him find his true voice and his community. Jake describes his childhood eloquently within the commercial:
Things were a little bit different for me, compared to my friends. Growing up, I was never comfortable with they way I looked when I looked in the mirror. I would want to see something masculine. I would want to be able to take off my shirt one day and have all these muscles. Knowing that that wasn’t ever going to happen, I couldn’t actually be happy. When the idea of starting to transition was brought about it was like: this is it, this is what I’ve been waiting for, this is what I need.
What’s perhaps most compelling about Jake and his transition is that he took to the Internet (via YouTube) to share his journey. By working to break the world’s preconceived notions about trans individuals on a social platform, Jake was able to connect with a supportive group at Hailee Bland Walsh’s City Gym in Kansas City, Missouri.
It’s a big message for a two-minute ad. But there’s nothing heavy-handed or melodramatic about it at all. It’s simply a reminder of how the Internet can connect people. But it’s also so much more.
(via i-D)
