Burger King's ad about Tesla malfunction backfires: 'So rich people get free food?'
Burger King certainly knows a good marketing opportunity when it sees it.
The fast-food chain got ahold of a video on May 10 where a driver, using Tesla’s Autopilot, realized that the car was confusing a Burger King sign for a stop sign.
“Just as I come over this hill, there’s a Burger King sign that’s down the hill, and it’s going to try to stop,” the driver says in the video. “‘Stopping for traffic control, over and over again, and then it figures it out.”
In response to the footage, Burger King released a new ad on June 23 that worked the error into a funny quip.
“Smart cars are smart enough to brake for a whopper,” the ad says. “Artificial intelligence knows what you crave.”
looks like AI even knows what you’re in the mood for.
pull up with your smart car, share a video/pic with #autopilotwhopper + #freewhopper & we’ll DM you a free Whopper code to use when you order on the BK app. see https://t.co/2HrzhTAM6A. pic.twitter.com/S74He7EcuQ— Burger King (@BurgerKing) June 23, 2020
Unfortunately, the joke didn’t land with some Twitter users.
So rich people get free food?
— Niq Ruud (@niqruud) June 24, 2020
So first we have to spend $100,000 on a car to get a free whopper? Trust me, if I had money to buy an autopilot car I wouldn't be eating this crap.
— Nick. (@BelieveLand99) June 24, 2020
In the middle of a pandemic when millions are unemployed & worried about their food security...yer giving away food to the rich?
Like, what? pic.twitter.com/sEpAVWFmA7— Randy Reiss (@undeadsinatra) June 26, 2020
Tesla’s Autopilot system has been in the news before for its errors. In September 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the Autopilot feature would be so efficient by the end of 2020, Teslas could be used as “robotaxis.”
Musk has been under fire several times for making misleading comments about the abilities of Tesla cars and not making timely safety adjustments to the vehicles. In response to two fatal crashes where the drivers were using Autopilot, Musk insisted it was an error caused by “overconfidence,” not the technology.
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