Google Shows Soft Side in Ad for Ice Cream Sandwich [VIDEO]

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Samsung has already had a crack at promoting the Galaxy Nexus. Now, it's Google's turn.

Google, eager to publicize its first phone featuring Android 4.0 a.k.a. "Ice Cream Sandwich," has risen to the occasion in a brand-appropriate fashion, with a cute ad that features a kid trying to unlock his dad's phone via its facial recognition feature. Try as he might, the tot can't make it work, an experience that mirrors our own Charlie White's encounter with the feature. (While we're on the topic, others have noted that the Nexus's facial recognition can be hacked with a photograph.)

For me, the ad, which hits just as the Nexus goes on sale in the U.S., is less reminiscent of other Google ads or other Samsung ads than the hugely viral Super Bowl ad below from Volkswagen. Perhaps it's because both feature no dialog, dramatic music and a precocious boy of roughly the same age. Both boys, you may also note, are trying to start an adult toy.

What do you think? Do you see the parallel or have I been watching too many ads? Let us know in the comments.