• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, April 12, 2017

There are plenty of innovations surrounding the Internet of Things and Burger King just created another one.

The fast food giant created a 15-second TV spot that ends with the words ‘OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?’

The phrase triggered the Google Home voice assistant along with Android devices to say the ingredients of a Whopper.

However, Google was hot on the trail.

A short time after word of the ad came out, Google shut down the ability of the commercial to trigger anything in the Google devices.

This isn’t the first time that audio from TV triggered actions by smart devices at home. Back in January, after a little girl ordered an expensive dollhouse through Amazon Alexa, a TV broadcaster reported on the story.

The broadcaster repeated on TV what the girl said, ‘Alexa, order me a dollhouse,’ setting off complaints from viewers all over San Diego saying their Alexa attempted to order a dollhouse for them.

A consumer can still get the information about a Whopper by asking Google Home or an Android phone, with the burger information coming from Wikipedia.

If you ask Amazon Alexa, ‘Alexa, what is the Whopper burger,’ the response is: ‘The Whopper is a hamburger product sold by the international fast food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian Franchise Hungry Jack’s.’

This is believed to be the first TV commercial specifically designed to tap into connected home devices.

It likely won’t be the last.

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Voice assistants, with their many implications, will be discussed at the MediaPost IoT Marketing Forum May 18 in New York. Here’s the agenda.