A Super Bowl commercial that features Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera triggered tremendous backlash online, with many viewers worrying that it glorifies mass surveillance.
The “Be A Hero In Your Neighborhood” ad begins with a video of a young girl reunited with her dog before jumping to a fictionalized preview of when her family pet went missing. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff explains during the ad that 10 million dogs go missing every year. The clip then cuts into a montage featuring missing dog posters stapled to telephone poles.
The commercial then shows the family using “Search Party” from Ring, which “uses AI to help families find lost dogs.”
“Since launch, more than a dog a day has been reunited with their family,” Siminoff continues as a neighborhood of Ring doorbell cameras scans and analyzes the dogs wandering by. “Be a hero in your neighborhood with Search Party. Available to everyone, for free, right now.”
Social media users quickly noted the possible downside of all doorbell cameras being used for surveillance.
“This [Ring] camera commercial played at #SuperBowl is something out of a dystopian thriller. Who would ever install these cameras after this? CREEPY AF!” one person replied.
“Y’all, this Ring Doorbell Camera commercial was creepy as can be. They are not even hiding it anymore,” another commenter wrote.
A third commenter echoed, “Ring search party is terrifying and what’s most terrifying is that we opted into this like f**king idiots.”
“This is a huge problem disguised as a solution,” one of the YouTube comments says.
Others pointed out how surveillance is already happening everywhere, and that users could easily opt out of the “Search Party” feature. Others dismissed the commercial as harmless.
“The ring doorbell commercial about finding lost dogs is by far the best part of this entire Super Bowl. Well done Ring and Amazon,” one person wrote.
Super Bowl LX took place on Sunday, February 8, and resulted in the Seattle Seahawks dominating the New England Patriots 29-13. There was a lot of controversy over Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny being selected to headline the halftime show despite not having any songs in English.
TPUSA announced an alternative musical performance, The All-American Halftime Show, which aired at the same time as Bad Bunny’s set. The event, headlined by Kid Rock, attracted millions of viewers who watched it live on multiple streaming platforms.
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