Burger King Google Home advert stunt backfires badly

Burger King's advert was hijacked by pranksters

The hamburger chain unveiled a 15-second ad Wednesday designed to trigger Google Home devices into reciting the definition of a Whopper, pulled from the website Wikipedia.

The advert features someone in a Burger King uniform leaning into the camera before saying, “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?”

For anyone with a Google Home device near their TV, that request will prompt the speaker to begin reading the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper.

But, as every tech head knows, the Wikepedia website can be edited by users, and the definition had been changed to insert “cyanide” as an ingredient in one mischievious version.

Another user later changed the definition to say the Whopper is “the worst hamburger product” sold by the chain.

Burger King, owned by Restaurant Brands International, says it is not behind the negative edits and that it has been trying to change the definition back to one that it was hoping to promote.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, the Wikipedia entry included a lengthy description that said the burger “has undergone several reformulations including resizing and bread changes.” It also noted that the Whopper is often “at the centre of advertising promotions, product tie-ins, and even corporate practical jokes and hoaxes.”

The ad was expected to run nationally in the US on Wednesday night on networks including Comedy Central, MTV and Bravo.