Burger King Ad Forces Google Home to Advertise the Whopper

[Megalith]

Google has shut down a Burger King ad that was intentionally designed to set off Google Homes and Android phones with the phrase “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?” This would prompt affected devices to begin reading the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper. It was later found that the Whopper causes cancer and includes toenail clippings and rats as ingredients.

The 15-second ad features someone in a Burger King uniform leaning into the camera before saying, “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?” For anyone with a Google Home near their TV, that strangely phrased request will prompt the speaker to begin reading the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper. It’s a clever way of getting viewers’ attention, but it’s also a really quick way of getting on viewers’ nerves — just look at the reactions people had when ads accidentally triggered voice assistants in the past.

 

[Pusher of Buttons]

The BK advertising department is always cutting edge with annoying advertising. I kind of applaud them. Also, this is another reason to justify my never using any voice controlled devices ever.

 

[Gigus Fire]

Is google home even popular? How does it compete against amazon's offering which i believe was out years before.

 

[Axehandler]

I LIKE BK... better then MCD...

But being forced to listen to Google Read the Wiki page about a whopper would be Annoying!

 

[Vader1975]

" it’s certainly the first to put it into a widely run ad campaign. " That is incorrect. All of those damn Alexa commercials from Amazon trip my real Amazon Echo all the time. I have to yell Alexa stop everytime one of those stupid comercials come on.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

One of the long list of reasons why Voice assist crap is disabled on all my devices.

 

[Master_shake_]

As if ads weren't intrusive enough.

 

[Mohonri]

Ill-advised? Maybe. Funny/effective? You bet!

 

[the-one1]

 

[illram]

I think it's pretty clever actually. Even if it's totally annoying and intrusive.

 

[katanaD]

LOL it highlights one of the issues i have with current voice assist things now. it is set to allow all voices to call it. I would want it so only me and the wife could.

 

[Ur_Mom]

We're talking about Burger King, so I think it worked.

However, there are some things that I will not buy due to the repetitive or annoying advertising. Hulu, Pandora, others need to increase their ad rotation. Hearing some things every single commercial break (same commercial, not even a different one for the same product) drives me mad. I will not buy some products because of it. When I hear about "MyPillow", I get aggravated. I saw one in Walmart and I didn't want to buy it. I had a negative image because of the ads on Pandora that play constantly.

This stuff is funny at first. It gets old real fast. But, since I don't get many commercials (other than the ones I listed above - Hulu/Pandora), I don't have a problem with it. So, I laugh and want to visit Burger King.

 

[DoubleTap]

How about a commercial that says "Alexa, order 5 pepperoni pizzas from dominos... confirm"

I like my Echo Dot, but it stays in my office and out of trouble.

 

[Killdozer]

Hah, I like this.
Also reminds me of the trolling videos people did with 'XBox turn off' with in game chat and would screw users with Kinect.

Not the highest quality videos but you get the idea:

 

[Seventyfive]

What ever happened to just singing the whopper song?

 

[Kinsaras]

Burger King advert sabotaged on Wikipedia

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39589013

However, somebody edited Wikipedia to describe the Whopper as the "worst hamburger product" and another added cyanide to the list of ingredients.

 

[Henderjc]

Google updated so the commercials voice will not set off the google home to respond... BUT this made the nightly news and the newscasters voice set my google home to respond anyway!

 

[katanaD]

ok, was reading around and came across this from the bbc

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39589013


but this part makes me .... *SIGH*

"Voice-activation is the new frontier for advertising and will provide incredible benefits for brands and consumers alike," said Mr Pearse.

 

[MrTryfe]

If only BKs offerings were on par with their marketing campaigns. Such a shame.

 

[illram]

It's an interesting philosophical question I guess, does an advertiser on television breach some sort of unspoken TV watching "social contract" when they reach into your living room and compel something in your home to do something without your permission? I'd say yes, that's a step too far. TV is a one way street--we let people on TV into our home with the proviso that I can mute them, turn it off, ignore them, or do whatever I want on my end of the viewing experience. They are not let into the home with the additional power to actually manipulate things in my home for me, without my consent. In other words turning on the TV should not constitute consent for any advertiser to take control, even if briefly, of anything in my house.

Still, clever. (But ultimately, this is not a threshold TV viewers should be forced to cross.)

 

[vegeta535]

This is fucking unacceptable. BK needs to be find big time and made a example. Ads have gone too far pushing themselves into our lives as is. This goes even beyond that.

 

[ChadD]

What ever happened to just singing the whopper song?

Ok Google. Sing the whopper song ?

Perhaps that will be the next commercial with a different voice actor. lol

 

[ChadD]

People take this stuff to seriously... I'm sure the BK advert guys knew Google would kill this pretty quickly, and that it would generate lots of news stories. Good on them.

Commercials that break the 4th wall.... why not. Everyone loved it in deadpool. lmao

 

[DejaWiz]

Whopper with cheese and bacon, no pickles or tomato...as much bliss as one can get from a drive thru.

 

[sir-gold]

Soon, they will need to regulate the use of voice-assistant keywords the same way they regulate emergency alert tones.

 

[Rev Lemmon]

Or just lock the damn voice assistant down to one or two voices which wont work when they get a cold.

 

[Chupachup]

People take this stuff to seriously... I'm sure the BK advert guys knew Google would kill this pretty quickly, and that it would generate lots of news stories. Good on them.

Commercials that break the 4th wall.... why not. Everyone loved it in deadpool. lmao

When Deadpool broke the 4th wall, he didn't access anything but the joy in my heart while watching in the theater and my living room. If he'd have accessed anything else he would have violated my personal space and my privacy.

It's enough that companies have heavily used annoying commercials to begin with. But, having commercials that break the premise of privacy in your own home by activating devices without your express permission to do so? Unacceptable!

 

[Retronym]

Their grilled chicken is somehow worse for you than the double cheeseburger.

 

[SticKx911]

It was effective enough to land unpaid for on the [H] front page. I'd consider that (and all the other sites it's been ranted about on) as marketing gold.

 

[B00nie]

The real shocker here is that people are actually dumb enough to keep voice recognizing devices on at their house.

 

[LBJM]

The real shocker here is that people are actually dumb enough to keep voice recognizing devices on at their house.

Here I thought the act of purchasing one of these devices was the problem. A smartphone can to do most of what these devices can (via the apps with voice command).

The whole placing your order via voice command just seems a little too lazy and in some cases dangerous (i.e allowing a child to order things that they would not normally allowed to do).

 

[Armenius]

This is fucking unacceptable. BK needs to be find big time and made a example. Ads have gone too far pushing themselves into our lives as is. This goes even beyond that.

Ironic, considering these people have freely purchased a product that is now collecting data on you all the time in real life instead of just when you're on the internet. Let us please not normalize devices like the Google Home.

 

[mnewxcv]

Like someone in here already mentioned, the amount of news stories on this are exactly what bk wanted. Free advertising.

 

[NoOther]

I think this was pretty genius to be honest. While Alexa commercials may have inadvertently triggered home devices, this commercial was specifically targeted for it. It was a great way to get maximum amount of traffic, information, and effect from a minimal time slot. While it may annoy a lot of people, I think the net effect will still be better for the company in the long run.

 

[vegeta535]

Ironic, considering these people have freely purchased a product that is now collecting data on you all the time in real life instead of just when you're on the internet. Let us please not normalize devices like the Google Home.

I am not normalizing Google Home. I know what I purchased and use. That does not give permission to another company to use it for their own ads.

 

[Retronym]

The real shocker here is that people are actually dumb enough to keep voice recognizing devices on at their house.

Maybe I like that they're listening. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[GoldenTiger]

" it’s certainly the first to put it into a widely run ad campaign. " That is incorrect. All of those damn Alexa commercials from Amazon trip my real Amazon Echo all the time. I have to yell Alexa stop everytime one of those stupid comercials come on.

Ads? That is so 1980s.

Proud tivo user since they came out and currently enjoying 30 second skips over ads with an xl4.

 

[B00nie]

Here I thought the act of purchasing one of these devices was the problem. A smartphone can to do most of what these devices can (via the apps with voice command).

The whole placing your order via voice command just seems a little too lazy and in some cases dangerous (i.e allowing a child to order things that they would not normally allowed to do).

Yes exactly, these kind of devices are hazardous even if their recipient sticks to legal uses and doesn't datamine all the phrases caught from your device.

 

[B00nie]

Ads? That is so 1980s.

Proud tivo user since they came out and currently enjoying 30 second skips over ads with an xl4.

Advertisers fail to understand that if their ads ruin a media experience, they're only damaging themselves. Most of the ads are coming from uninteresting and widely known brands anyway so what's the point.

When was the last time you saw an ad and had the ahaa -moment to purchase something? When was the last time you got annoyed to hell and swore never to buy the products of the company breaking up your entertainment?

 

[Youn]

Not a fan of BK, but I thought it was a funny ad... funny that it pissed people off