Burger King’s Invasive Google Home Hack

With its newest piece of advertising, Burger King was nothing if not creative. In a recent series of commercials, Burger King asked a question of Google Home. When Google Home answered, the 15-second spot was extended and the device answered the question posed by the actor in the commercial: “OK, Google, what is the Whopper Burger?” Google Home looks up a Wikipedia entry for the Whopper and then lists the ingredients in the sandwich, as requested.

Google Home is becoming a more and more necessary as our homes fill up with smart objects. Google Home and Google Home’s Google Assistant help to sync up your devices, connecting your music, your Google search, and even your daily schedule to keep you organized. But do you want your Google Home talking to everyone who asks it questions? Even the friendly Burger King employee on the ad?

Reaction

Some trolls were not happy with the commercial and immediately tried to make it backfire. Wikipedia’s Whopper page was soon changed to include Whopper “ingredients” like toenail clippings, small child, and cyanide. Wikipedia had to lock down the page.

Controversy

Google also wasn’t too pleased with Burger King’s ad. Apparently, they weren’t involved in the production of the commercial series, and after they aired, Google updated their voice recognition algorithms to ignore the commercial. Specifically, Google stopped Google Home from recognizing the first actor’s voice.

But Burger King wouldn’t let its commercials be defeated that easily. In response to Google’s tweaked voice recognition, it dubbed the commercial series with another actor who asked the same question.

Command Devices

With devices like Google Home and Alexa becoming more popular in people’s homes, issues like the Burger King commercial might become more commonplace. For example, a radio host in San Diego recently used Amazon Echo to order doll houses for several residents.

Additionally, as these devices connect smart-connected things in your home — like locks — added security certainly seems like it will need to play an important role. The Burger King ad could be considered a clever way to change up the same old TV spot or an annoying overstep.

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