Burger King voice-activated ad backfires, then is silenced

What started out as a whopper of a marketing idea by Burger King was basically flame-broiled by internet trollers.

The hamburger chain debuted a 15-second ad Wednesday designed to trigger Google Home devices into reciting the definition of a Whopper, pulled from the website Wikipedia, USA Today reported. However, Wikipedia can be edited by users, and the definition was altered by several people.

The definition had been changed to insert "cyanide" as an ingredient in one version. Another user later changed the definition to say the Whopper is "the worst hamburger product" sold by the chain.

Wikipedia later locked the Whopper page from new edits. And by Wednesday afternoon, Google had deactivated the ad's ability to trigger Home devices, USA Today reported.

But Burger King launched two tweaked versions of the ad late Wednesday on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC. Burger King substituted the voice of the male Burger King worker with a woman's voice, activating the Google Home devices again, USA Today reported.

About the Author

Bob D’Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

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