Google appears to have played a ‘marketing stunt’ with the string of Pixel 3 XL leaks. According to Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech (FPT), Google appears to have misled tech bloggers and journalists about the final look and specifications of the Pixel 3 XL. He also claims that Google contacted him and four other YouTube vloggers (video bloggers), asking them to submit clips which could be used to promote the upcoming Google flagship.
As per these videos, posted on the ‘front page tech’ YouTube channel, Prosser can be seen saying that he did receive an email from a person associated with Google’s hardware division, regarding the possibility of lending footage from previous Front Page Tech shows for the promotion of Pixel 3 XL.
In the first video, posted on September 6 (Episode 727), Prosser does mention making a background check of the employee, whose LinkedIn profile indicated that the Google executive was listed as a Line Producer. While some mocked him for making a false claim, Prosser does go on to show a screenshot from the email received from the unnamed Google employee on the September 7 FTP episode (Ep. 728).
While the contact details are blurred out, one can clearly see the said person introduced himself as one of Google Hardware’s creative producers, seeking a ‘high quality’ version of the clip used in a previous FPT video.