What started as a Super Bowl ad about finding lost dogs ended in a multicity contract termination for Flock, not because its technology was featured in the ad, but because of growing public sentiment as a result.
In a controversial yet viral ad for Amazon’s Ring that premiered during the Super Bowl, a user uploaded a photo of a lost dog so participating homes in Ring’s Search Party feature can scan their footage to find that lost dog. What started as a heartwarming story of reunification culminated in millions of Americans shocked at how “creepy” the tech was, and how it could be manipulated into nefarious purposes, such as tracking individuals and finding their current whereabouts.
