Home Title Index Topic Index Sources Directory News Releases Sources Calendar

Why we should be thanking Burger King for hijacking our smart home devices

Pringle, Ramona
http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/burger-king-ad-1.4072855

Publisher:  CBC
Date Written:  18/04/2017
Year Published:  2017  
Resource Type:  Article

Pringle analyzes the social impact of Burger King's advertising tactic and the hidden vulnerabilities our smart devices are capable of bringing us.

Abstract: 
-

Excerpt:

The advertisers also made themselves susceptible to a vulnerability of their own; when Google Home hears the activation trigger "Okay Google," it performs a Google search, usually landing on Wikipedia for its response. The team responsible for the ad tailored the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper Burger before the spot launched on television, but they apparently failed to consider that someone else could later edit the Wikipedia entry -- which, of course, they did.

Those rogue Wikipedia edits, presumably heard by thousands before Google stepped in and blocked the ad, described the Whopper as "a cancer-causing hamburger product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King," and "a burger, consisting of a flame-grilled patty made with 100% rat and toenail clippings…"

So clearly, the ad irked people enough to provoke some to bite back. But it's not all bad. For one, it did get people talking, and considering how many homes now have these smart devices, it's surprising no one tried a stunt like this earlier.

Sure, it's a misfire, but not a terribly offensive one (certainly not as bad as Pepsi's recent advertisement disaster). In some ways, the ad is actually a really good thing. New technology creeps up on us and changes the way we live our lives, but the truth is, we don't always see that change happening. In fact, we rarely do.

Topics
Sources-journalists use the sources website to find you


AlterLinks
c/o Sources


© 2023.