Google pays millions for deceptive Pixel 4 radio ads settlement
The Google Pixel 4 was an ambitious but ill-fated product, introducing Google’s overengineered radar and IR blaster combination to the smartphone world that only a few people ended up using. The company wanted to go all in with the Pixel 4, though, even advertising the new phone on radio stations in cooperation with scripted statements for radio hosts to make clear it's one of the best phones out there.
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These ad scripts given to radio hosts made it sound like they personally used these phones, though, even if that wasn’t the case. After Google already settled with the FTC on the issue for $9 million, the company has now reached another settlement in this matter with Texas, paying $8 million.
As covered by PhoneArena, Texas Attorney General Paxton sued Google for misleading Texan consumers into thinking that radio hosts endorsing the Pixel 4 actually used it themselves. On the radio shows, statements from DJs included, “I’ve been taking studio-like photos of everything...my son's football game... a meteor shower... a rare spotted owl that landed in my backyard. Pics or it didn’t happen, am I right?” and “The only thing I love more than taking the perfect photo? Taking the perfect photo at night. With Google Pixel 4 both are a cinch. It’s my favorite phone camera out there, especially in low light, thanks to Night Sight Mode.” The ads were aired in 2019 and early 2020.
The problem with these ad scripts is that the radio DJs didn’t actually have any hands-on experience with the phones, with the devices not even released yet when the ads were initially aired. The Texas Attorney General says, “If Google is going to advertise in Texas, their statements better be true. In this case, the company made statements that were blatantly false, and our settlement holds Google accountable for lying to Texans for financial gain.”
In any case, the Pixel 4 was one of Google’s least successful handsets, with the company scrapping the complicated and big radar and IR blaster technology with the next iteration of its Pixel lineup, the Pixel 5, which also felt a lot more like a higher-end midrange phone than a flagship, representing a significant shift in strategy for Google.
Source: Android Police
