UK Edition
A Burger King advert that hijacked the Google Home speakers in owners’ living rooms has backfired spectacularly after it generated a privacy backlash.
The 15-second advert, designed to prompt the Google Home speakers into reading out a description of the burger, was blocked shortly after it was unveiled.
After hearing the phrase “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger” contained in the advert, the speaker would respond with the Whopper’s Wikipedia description, which had been edited with the advert in mind.
After users instantly criticised the advert as an invasion of privacy that hijacked their personal devices, Google quickly blocked it from recognising the audio recording. Wikipedia has also reverted to the previous description of The Whopper and locked the page.
So-called “smart” speakers, which are activated by saying a “wake phrase” and then a command, are becoming more popular in living rooms and kitchens as the voice-recognition technology improves. The Google Home speaker, which was released in the US in November and in the UK last week, is woken up by saying “OK Google”.
When asked a question, it will read out an answer from the Google search engine or Wikipedia, and since it cannot distinguish between its owner talking and a recording, it can be activated by overhearing television.
The Burger King advert, which was not made with Google’s blessing, was meant to debut on US televisions on Wednesday night.
It featured an actor saying: “"You're watching a 15-second Burger King ad, which is unfortunately not enough time to explain all the fresh ingredients in the Whopper sandwich.
"But I've got an idea: OK, Google, what is the Whopper burger?"
The recording triggered speakers into reading out the Whopper’s Wikipedia description, which had been altered to: “The Whopper is a burger, consisting of a flame-grilled patty made with 100 percent beef with no preservatives or fillers, topped with sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mayonnaise, served on a sesame-seed bun.”
The previous entry had been: “The Whopper sandwich is the signature hamburger product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's.”
After the advert emerged, the page was mischievously edited to refer to the Whopper as being made of “medium-sized child” and containing “cyanide”. It has now been locked, as Wikipedia occasionally does when multiple parties disagree over the editing.
The advert had been criticised as invasive and creepy on social media.
Last year, many owners of Amazon's rival device, the Amazon Echo, had dolls houses accidentally ordered after the speaker overheard a phrase on a television show.