When fast food company Burger King attempted to trigger Google Assistant/Google Home by including "OK, Google" in an advertisement, Google moved to block its software from responding. But The Inquirer reports that rogue editors on Wikipedia played a prank on the advertiser:
[...] Burger King forgot that Google draws that kind of information from Wikipedia. And anyone can edit Wikipedia.
Soon, Wikipedia and therefore Google was telling all and sundry that the Whopper was made with "cyanide" "toenail clippings" and "rat meat". It also said that it is "the worst hamburger product" [...]
However, according to The Verge, the restauranteur appears to have inserted its desired text into Wikipedia prior to the broadcast:
For almost a decade, Wikipedia's page for the Whopper began with more or less the same sentence: "The Whopper sandwich is the signature hamburger product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's."
[...]
But last week, that first line — the only line that Google Home reads — was changed to: "The Whopper is a burger, consisting of a flame-grilled patty made with 100 percent beef with no preservatives or fillers, topped with sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mayonnaise, served on a sesame-seed bun." That certainly sounds like ad copy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:32PM
Maybe they didn't forget. Maybe they presumed it would happen and that all the articles and news stories would be like a second round of free advertising. For example, I don't watch TV with commercials embedded and I don't have the google device that would respond to the question. But here I am, knowing about this story. Knowing that Whoppers are 100% beef, that pranksters falsely suggested they are made of toenails (which is so ridiculous nobody will believe it), etc. etc. The ad was apparently extremely effective and reached a much wider audience than would have been possible and it is not crazy to think that BK guessed that wikipedia would get altered and thus generate additional interest.