The original, entire point of GITS was about Major marking out her individuality in a world that was rapidly becoming a mass market wasteland of consumerism and copy paste design and creation. While some episodes did focus on other subjects, a large majority of the series was about Makoto essentially marking out her individuality in the face of overwhelming technological progress.
Simply put, there's a reason towards the end of the GITS movie that Makoto gets her ass handed to her by a giant spider tank and ends up in the same physical state as the AI in the broken body who wants to be an individual and there's a reason they become one: both want to mark themselves out as individuals - albeit in different ways. Makoto wants to meld into the ephemeral and spiritual while the artifical mind wants to become a human or at least, a physical, true being through the creation of a new life (which is the Makoto we see in the series' and movies following the original GITS)
(That is, assuming the blatant speech towards the end of the film wasn't enough of a give away.)
This resonates with Japanese audiences because of the quick and overwhelming technological advancement Japan had over a certain course in time.
Mass production, plastic surgery, a new culture of more and more technology and all of it coming down at once, all of that plays a part in pushing forward Makoto building individuality - she modifies the mass market body, switches bodies as she pleases, spends a majority of her time both flying through the net and hacking computers with ease (though thats more the puppet master's influence then not, depending on who you ask.)
This trailer, the moment it said 'First of its kind' outright rejected being that, instead choosing to play to the western audience's love of being special for being one of the first countries to try en masse democracy and glorification of the talents of the individual while painting assumed outside control by a small group as its source villainy. That's why this doesn't work - you can't be the first of your kind and be Makoto, especially not PRE-PUPPET MASTER Makoto (as they seem to be going for). Makoto was the first of her kind by design of both in world and out and after becoming one with the puppet master, this becomes even more clear. (By this I mean, she's first in that she intentionally goes out of her way to seek the Ephemeral, she drowns herself, she spends long times contemplating the state of her humanity, she wonders if she has a soul, etc)
Hell, in my personal opinion it would've been better if they focused on the more non-Makoto type story-lines to connect to the western audiences, such as the comparison the series often makes between old technology and retired veterans, especially considering the more recent events in politics.
But then again I'm one of those people who apparently takes movies too seriously even while they try to reach desperately for meaning by stealing other people's cultural touchstones and spitting in the face of their original meaning. Gonna be good to see Scarlett Johansson retain her undeserved monopoly of 'white action girl'.
