2025
NYC
DATE:
05/29/25
INHERITED LOGICS
WRITTEN BY:
TRISTAN MCALLISTER
LONG STORY, SHORT:
After a devastating AI failure in 2015 that exposed racial bias in its photo-recognition tech, Google had a lot of work to do. Enter Real Tone, a suite of camera features on the Pixel 6, designed to better render darker skin tones—launched with a campaign that turned a painful misstep into a landmark act of technological repair. The result? One of the most powerful recent examples of how to meet category expectations and cultural demand with grace, precision, and legitimacy.
For those of us behind the scenes on this endeavor—as I was, during my time leading storytelling work for the The New York Times’ T Brand Studio—it was a rare chance to help Google do more than recover. It was a chance to help it reset the standard.
#003
Inherited Logics is an At Large content series that looks at why certain brand moves land—and why others fall flat—through the lens of category logic: the unwritten rules audiences and industries expect brands to follow.
THE STORY:
Back in 2015, Google Photos labeled a Black couple as “gorillas.” It was more than a glitch—it was a reckoning. The incident spotlighted the racial blind spots baked into algorithmic learning, triggering outrage and catalyzing internal change.
Years later, instead of burying the mistake, Google returned with Real Tone, a direct response embedded in its Pixel phone cameras. Real Tone corrected for biases in photo tech, long optimized for lighter skin, by building a system that could render diverse skin tones with care and accuracy. But tech alone wasn’t the story. The campaign around it, developed in partnership with T Brand Studio (where I served as a strategist and content lead), Wieden+Kennedy, and Gut, placed representation at the center, culminating in a Super Bowl spot backed by Lizzo’s “If You Love Me.”
The message was as human as it was technological: “See me clearly.” And the world took notice. Real Tone went on to win the Grand Prix in the Mobile category at the Cannes Lions Festival, cementing it as a cultural and creative milestone, even as widespread skepticism around DEI rips through many industries.
The Real tension (or harmony) …
Innovation Will Save Us (Inherited Logic: Technology Should Empower Everyone)
Tech, at its best, promises frictionless access, universal design, and scalability without bias. But when it fails, especially along racial lines, it violates the central logic of the category: that it works for all.
Google’s initial failure didn’t just undermine its product; it shattered trust. Real Tone was a masterclass in repairing that trust by realigning with category logic. It didn’t deflect or downplay. It responded with engineering, equity, and emotional intelligence.
Crucially, it understood that today’s consumer—the “godlike” user with infinite options and infinite expectations—wants more than performance. They want principle. Real Tone wasn’t just tech that worked better. It was tech that understood why it needed to work better.
WHAT LANDED:
Cultural Fluency: The campaign built partnerships with BIPOC photographers, creatives, and activists—grounding the product in lived experience, not abstraction.
Narrative Framing: “If you love me, you love all of me” wasn’t just a line—it reframed camera equity as a matter of dignity and care.
Credible Redemption: Google didn’t pretend this was innovation for innovation’s sake. It acknowledged the problem it helped create—and used its scale to address it.
WHAT DIDN'T:
While not the fault of Google, there’s still tension around whether Big Tech can ever truly redeem itself through campaign work, especially in the era of generative AI. But in this case, Google didn’t just release an ad—it released a product fix, a social commitment, and a new industry standard.
THE AT LARGE TAKE:
Lead with Repair, Not Reinvention. Too many brands try to pivot away from past failures instead of addressing them head-on. Google acknowledged the problem, owned its role in it, and used product development, not just PR, to respond. The lesson? Don’t sidestep the issue. Solve it, then show your work.
Align Product with Cultural Stakes. Real Tone wasn’t about “inclusion” as an abstract value. It was about making the product work better for people who’d been underserved. In tech, and beyond—, functionality is fairness. If your innovation doesn’t reflect the reality of your full audience, it’s not complete.
Tell the Story, But Ground It in Credibility. The campaign didn’t rely on sentiment alone. It collaborated with real users, creatives, and experts—anchoring every emotional beat in proof and participation. If you want your campaign to resonate, make sure it’s not just aesthetically inclusive—it must be structurally accountable.
Real Tone is a benchmark in brand-led repair—because it didn’t just market a message, it rebuilt trust from the inside out. If you’re aiming to do work that’s both culturally meaningful and category-smart, especially in an era of skepticism around DEI, understanding the story of Real Tone is critical.