Burger King's Google-Triggering Ad Invites Complaints, Scrutiny
- The ad was designed to activate consumers’ Google Home
- The device does not distinguish between different voices
This article is for subscribers only.
A Burger King television advertisement designed to trigger Google speakers in viewers’ homes leaves the search giant vulnerable to scrutiny by regulators.
The 15-second commercial caused the voice-activated Google Home device to read the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper. In TV spots that aired nationally on Wednesday, a Burger King employee asked, “OK, Google. What is the Whopper burger?” and the phrase acted as a trigger for the device, until Google took steps to disable the command on Wednesday.