Ok Google, What Went Wrong? A Breakdown of Burger Kings AI Stunt
- Chloe Coker
- Sep 17
- 3 min read
What is in a Whopper Burger? That is a popular question many consumers ask Burger King, also known as BK. In their efforts to create a memorable and engaging marketing campaign, they used the well-known burger as a point of leverage. The seemingly harmless campaign ended up causing chaos in households all over the country. How, you might ask? Using the phrase "OK Google, what is in the Whopper Burger?" When a potential consumer played the advertisement in a household, other electronics picked up on "OK, Google," and started describing the burger. Which, I'll give it to them, is a clever and creative way to deliver a message indirectly, but they never considered the potential downsides of using/relying on AI. The electronics would read off a pre-set definition Burger King wrote on Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that is notorious for getting information changed by hackers. Hence, the chaos in households. The definition became hacked, so when prompted, the electronics read aloud varying responses (Wakefield, 2017).
Although not the most successful campaign, it was developed using the IMC framework, which, when used correctly, can result in an engaging and consumer-specific campaign. In Burger King's case, the framework enabled them to create a one-of-a-kind and memorable advertisement, for both good and not-so-good reasons. IMC is the combination of using advertising, public relations, marketing, journalism, and other communication tactics to develop a harmonious brand message across all platforms (Karakas, 2024). Included in the use of IMC, Burger King needed to find a way to incorporate the PESO model, or paid, earned, shared, and owned platforms. They did so as follows...
Paid: The main component of the advertisement is the use of in-home appliances, so Burger King paid for television and social media ads.
Earned: Perhaps not the best way to gain recognition, but Burger King garnered a lot of media coverage across various websites due to the hacked definitions.
Shared: By encouraging user engagement over social media platforms, the campaign gained shared media through the playing or sharing of the advertisement.
Owned: Burger King utilized its own site, BK.com, to promote and showcase the ad.
After looking at the PESO model and getting a brief definition of the IMC, let us look at how the lack of public relations was partially to blame for the campaign's failure. Yes, Burger King created an IMC campaign, but they did not put much emphasis on the PR aspect. The advertisement, as creative as it was, did not produce a mutually beneficial relationship but actually did the opposite. Many consumers lost trust and became annoyed when the advertisement triggered their other electronics, especially when the definition no longer belonged to Burger King. If an ad on a television set off your Google Assistant and resulted in spewed nonsense, you too would have lost a sliver of respect for the brand. The idea behind the activation of electronics in proximity to the ad was to expand their advertisement past the allotted time frame and have in-house engagement with consumers. Which, when first thought of, could have been seen as mutually beneficial, Burger King gains more awareness, and consumers get an answer to their long-asked question. Although when put into action, it became evident that it was a one-way relationship. The PR practitioner should have taken a different approach when creating the "OK Google" campaign, so here is what I would have done differently.
Work with Google and other voice-activated electronics to ensure a complete understanding of how they work.
Monitor Wikipedia and receive notifications of the definition changes to ensure credibility.
Put consumer trust above everything else, maybe opt in to having consumers ask Google themselves instead of forcing the response. Instead of using "OK Google," use "you know what, ask Google." It keeps the creative and humorous aspect but does not intrude into people's homes.
Try to be more inclusive; not everyone owns a Google or a voice assistant, so it missed the mark with many consumers.
The most important aspect of including PR in an IMC campaign is ensuring credibility, trust, and awareness; without those three components, a campaign will never be successful (Rudolph, 2025). So, Burger King, if you are reading this, ensure PR practices get as much attention as every other piece that flows into the IMC guidelines.
References
Karakas, A. (2024). Integrated Marketing Communications for the modern business. CloudOffix. https://www.cloudoffix.com/blog/integrated-marketing-communications-for-the-modern-business#:~:text=What%20is%20Integrated%20Marketing%20Communications,consistent%20message%20at%20every%20touchpoint
Rudolph, E. (2025, February 28). Marketing Communications: The Role of Public Relations in Integrated Marketing Campaigns. Marketing Communications | West Virginia University. https://marketingcommunications.wvu.edu/professional-development/marketing-communications-today/marketing-communications-today-blog/2025/02/28/the-role-of-public-relations-in-integrated-marketingcampaigns#:~:text=PR%20ensures%20that%20all%20communications,what%20the%20brand%20stands%20for.
Wakefield, J. (2017, April 13). Burger King Advert sabotaged on Wikipedia. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39589013
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