Google is responding to criticism over a new holiday shopping advertisement. The ad features Cyrus Veyssi, a nonbinary beauty influencer, promoting Google Shopping ahead of the holidays.
While Google describes this ad as part of a broader advertising campaign, it is the choice of Veyssi as the featured influencer that sparked pushback from some conservatives and garnered significant media attention.
News outlets rated as having a right-leaning political bias have been primarily covering the story. Left-leaning news outlets have largely omitted the story from their coverage.
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- Fox News: “Google accused of ‘woke’ new Christmas ad with ‘nonbinary’ beauty influencer.”
- Washington Examiner: “Google criticized for ‘woke’ Christmas ad with ‘nonbinary’ influencer.”
- Daily Wire: “Google Trashed For Holiday Shopping Ad Featuring Man Dressed Like A Woman.”
When a news story is reported predominantly by one side of the media spectrum, it may be seen as a form of bias, either through story omission or oversaturation.
Straight Arrow News often refers to this type of coverage as a Media Miss, which indicates this story is underreported or ignored by one side of the political divide.
As the story gained traction among right-leaning outlets, Google issued a response to the controversy.
In a statement to Fox News, the company said, “Everyone likes to find a good deal and save money. That’s why we’re promoting Google Shopping as the best way to do that. To put it in perspective, this was a single sponsored Instagram post, representing a fraction of a percent of a much wider Google Shopping campaign.”
Right-leaning outlets have included Google’s response in their coverage, such as the Washington Examiner. The publication also noted some users on X have called for boycotting Google and switching to alternative search engine DuckDuckGo.
Other outlets, like Fox News, have compared the controversy to similar reactions to other recent advertisements. Fox News cited the backlash faced by luxury auto brand Jaguar last month for its rebranding campaign that featured androgynous models.
