14 DAY TRIAL // Burger King is really not getting the hint about when it should stop with its shenanigans. After Google made it so that Burger King's ad no longer triggered Google Home devices, the company altered its ad to bypass the blockade.
Last week, Burger King released a short ad where an employee says that they don't have the necessary time to start explaining to people just what a Whooper really is so he uses the magic phrase of "Ok Google" before asking what a Whooper is. This triggered Google Home devices and Android smartphones close enough to the TV to start searching for the Whooper's definition.
People were rightfully annoyed and complained about the issue. Within a very short time, Google issued an update to its systems and the trick no longer worked. The general assumption is that the company blacklisted the soundbite from the ad to no longer work on its servers.
Burger King did not give up and altered the ad, running the ad during some high-rating shows, including Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon. According to the company's statement, they altered the ad's audio in such a way that it was able to get around whatever block the Google Home had against the original commercial. They sounded quite proud of themselves, too, no matter how many people they annoyed.
Any publicity is good publicity
Dara Schopp, Burger King spokesperson, added that in recent days there was a 300% increase in social conversation about the brand on Twitter. In plain-speak, it doesn't really matter whether the commercial was good or bad, or whether it annoyed loads of people. We supposed it's one of those times when "any publicity is good publicity" is a valid saying.
It should also be mentioned that Google Home gets its replies from a series of sources, including Wikipedia. Ahead of the launch of the ad, Burger King tried to alter the page for its Whopper Burger in an effort to make it sound more polished. That edit was slashed by Wikipedia editors after the source was discovered.
Following the release of the ad, many users began editing the first line of the article, however, adding words like "cancer-causing" or stating that "cyanide" is among the ingredients, which signaled that the company was being trolled back.