‘Dystopian’ Super Bowl Ad for Ring Camera Gets Bipartisan Blowback: ‘Propaganda for Mass Surveillance’
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Super Bowl viewers across the political spectrum sounded the alarm on a Ring camera commercial promoting a troubling new feature.
During Super Bowl LX, one of the coveted ad slots went to home security company Ring. With the commercial, Ring announced a new AI-driven feature that accesses all cameras in a neighborhood to help find lost pets. According to the spokesperson in the commercial, a Ring owner would simply have to post a photo of their pet in the Ring app, and that post would force outdoor cameras to begin searching for visual matches in the area. The new featured has been dubbed “Search Party.”
The spokesperson also claimed that “more than a dog a day” has been found since the launch of Search Party.
Viewers were quick to voice their skepticism of the new feature, suggesting Ring could leverage that technology for more sinister ambitions.
Conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller outright called it “propaganda for mass surveillance.”
Democratic former New York City comptroller Brad Lander predicted that “they can do this to anyone.”
“That’s terrifying,” he added.
Others agreed that the commercial was not truly about the dogs, despite its framing.
GOP strategist Brady Smith called the commercial “awfully dystopian” while sarcastically asking, “What could possibly go wrong?”
And countless others on both sides were left disturbed by the Super Bowl ad.
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