The idea was straightforward, dreamed up by advertising executives as another way to promote the hamburger brand across social media and at the same time demonstrating that it’s in tune with social media and new technology. The idea involved the new style of adverts that and activate technology (which some people like whereas others find annoying and intrusive). A Burger King television advert which was put together and designed to activate Google Home smart speakers as well as some Android smartphones (depending on the configuration). These connected devices would then read information about Burger King’s best-selling Whopper burgers via the description about the burgers on Wikipedia. The problem was that someone had gone in an edited the Wikipedia page. The commercials, The Washington Post reports, aired during Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon shows broadcast in the U.S. on April, 12
The basis of the 15-second advert was a Burger King employee asking “OK, Google. What is the Whopper burger?” On being spoken, any one watching the advert with this Google function enabled would have their device speak to them, with the text drawn from the appropriate Wikipedia page. It didn’t cross the minds of advertising executives, when they brainstormed the idea, that linking to a webpage that scores of people have editing rights to might not be such a good idea.
The problem faced by Burger King, according to the BBC, was that a person had edited Wikipedia to describe the Whopper as the “worst hamburger product”. It appears that a second person added cyanide to the list of ingredients (which of course it does not contain a toxin). The advert was quickly blocked from linking to Wikipedia as soon as the inaccurate information was realized.
Whether another company will try such a trick again remains to be seen. Based on comments on the advert’s YouTube page, as reported by The Verge, many consumers did not appreciate having their devices hijacked
