Everybody loves Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, but not so much if he turns on their Xbox without their permission.
Paul is featured in an advertisement that promotes Microsoft’s Xbox One. In the ad, he says “Xbox on” to activate the Xbox featured in the scene. However, owner’s of the game console finds their own Xbox recognizing Aaron Paul’s command through the voice control technology. The advertisement intrudingly turns on peoples’ Xboxes in their homes whenever the advertisement gets aired on TV. Paul’s command is recognized by the microphone in Xbox’s Kinect, which constantly listens for commands.
This phenemenon garnered a lot of reactions coming from the owners of the console. Players turned to Twitter, Reddit and other social networking platforms to air their amusement and complain on the advertisement’s effect on their Xbox. Some say it’s annoying, while others say it’s amazing.
The commercial with Aaron Paul is not the first time that Xbox One’s Kinect responded to an advertisement. There is a viral YouTube video that shows a gamer’s Xbox responding to a command and displayed the Dead Rising 3 game. Kinect’s tendency to respond to voice commands coming from other devices has been used by other people as practical jokes.
“Xbox Off,” and “Xbox Sign Out” are some of the most popular voice commands practical jokers use to annoy other players online.
This may be used as a joke, this may be amusing, and this may be considered as a little glitch, but there is a deeper implication to this phenomenon. Microsoft can actually use advertisements to command Xboxes in people’s home to do what the company wants to raise profitability.
TV advertisements could easily command Xboxes to visit the pages where a new game or product is being promoted. This may seem like a nefarious plan from one of Batman’s enemies, but with more Xboxes being sold every day, this notion could easily turn into reality in the near future.
