People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads

"I'm about to just toss the whole thing..."

See full article...

 

[scarletjinx]

Well, you probably won't see ads like this:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxBuly8Vblc

Although I strenuously object to ads on goods & services that I've already paid for - gotta admit, wouldn't object to more ads like that!

 

[countbalo]

I am about to chuck all mine, a big reason why being the Hulu app being removed (guessing Disney no longer wants to maintain it, given the consolidation to Disney+ for all stuff). Yeah, I can use the browser, and it works OK, but requires more manual interaction instead of just being able to say, "Alexa, play King of the Hill on Hulu."

The only other big use case I get out of Alexa is the shopping list, which I know is silly too for all the privacy invasion. But I find it useful to be rummaging through my fridge and pantry and adding what I need (or when I run out).

I have noticed that the old Echo's without any screens are also doing more ad stuff lately. I have an original Echo device (the speaker on it is still great!) and often now when I interact with it, once its done doing what I ask it'll go, "Also, I wanted to let you know that there's a deal on something stupid here, would you like me to tell you more?" However, now before it gets very far, I already go, "Alexa, SHUT THE FUCK UP" -- would be hilarious if they record how much verbal abuse its getting. Either way, the idea of purchasing anything over voice only sounds scary.

Anyway, I am sure there are alternatives for things like the shopping list (for media consumption, we've just been using our iPad's in the kitchen more often), its just I got these things dirt cheap (and yeah yeah, I know, I'm the product) and its worked, but slowly they're starting to not work so well and may end up in the dumpster -- or given to a friend who just wants a screen and doesn't care about all these ads.

Enshittification, what a time to be alive.

on one of the links in the article a poster in the posted that he used to work for Amazon and said that they would detect a user cussing out the device and lower the number of ads they received per time period. Apparently they no longer do that which is around the time he quit. So yeah, they have gone ad silly.

 

[fzammetti]

Eh, I threw mine in the drawer literally 20 minutes after it arrived when I discovered that the thing runs like molasses and has possibly the worst UX of any tech device I've ever seen. I can't even be bothered to see if I can run something else on it.

 

[AlaskanDruid]

I too, regret falling for fraud.

 

[Thinker_in_TX]

The endpoint is obvious. At some point it will become all ads, all the time. And you won’t be able to turn it off.

Like M5 in the Star Trek TOS? Or HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Hopefully the Alexa's don't have a death ray to the power plug and we don't need our space suit's helmet.

 

[SixDegrees]

Like M5 in the Star Trek TOS? Or HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Hopefully the Alexa's don't have a death ray to the power plug and we don't need our space suit's helmet.

No death rays planned, but direct connection to your checking account will soon be a feature.

 

[mpotter1024]

The 3 step process
Step 1 - Turn the device off.
Step 2 - Throw it in the trash where it belongs.
Step 3 - Do not buy products from companies who do this sort of thing.

I never bought one. Is why won’t buy a Roku or other TV with built in media player. Likewise I never signed up for Samsung Smart TV services. Is a sure way to get unlimited ads on my TV. Initially though I objected to the EULA that Samsung could transfer their apps to any 3rd party provider without notice and they could start charging me for services without notice. So am happy to have a Yamaha 8K Adventage AV receiver can do some of what I want. Otherwise why would I want a web browser on my TV. Is much easier to find something on my smartphone then cast via my AV receiver avoid Samsung entirely except as a basic TV.

 

[Mechjaz]

Ok, touché. I guess that's a clear case of "put your money where your mouth is"...
I just subscribed.

Welcome!

 

[ackmondual]

Waste of a perfectly good box.

"Eh"... you can throw away the item on the inside, and leave the box for someone who needs it. Perhaps a cat, to boot?

I have noticed that the old Echo's without any screens are also doing more ad stuff lately. I have an original Echo device (the speaker on it is still great!) and often now when I interact with it, once its done doing what I ask it'll go, "Also, I wanted to let you know that there's a deal on something stupid here, would you like me to tell you more?" However, now before it gets very far, I already go, "Alexa, SHUT THE FUCK UP" -- would be hilarious if they record how much verbal abuse its getting. Either way, the idea of purchasing anything over voice only sounds scary.

Huh.. we've gone full circle on Starship Troopers!

 

[Thinker_in_TX]

I think that would be tricky for them because the Kindle doesn't really need Wi-Fi to do it's main job. The Echo Show needs an Internet connection to do almost everything.

How hard would it be for Amazon to pre-load the ads whenever a book is downloaded. The companies paying for the ads would just load time independent ads.

 

[ackmondual]

You'd think people would know better by now.

Why would anyone ever watch anything which contains an ad in a TV series, Movie or broadcast of any other kind?

Not to play devil's advocate, but some people really do want to save money, so they spring for "ad-filled". With streaming services, they use them so infrequently that they can put up with ads. Especially for $2 a month (which is how much Hulu cost when their Black Friday deals roll around). Remember, sites like here, and even the internet, tends to be the vocal minority. Even if everyone threatens to cancel their subscriptions (which I'm sure most of us here have done so by now. If not already cancelled multiple times if that joke is to be believed)... we're likely only moving the needle, a very small bit.

 

[Thinker_in_TX]

I completely agree that Amazon, or any other retailer selling subsidized hardware not clearly pointing out that fact, for that matter, are misrepresenting their “smart” (LOL) products.

Where my criticism comes into play is that folks purchasing these products have free access to information as far as competitive devices are concerned - and when everyone else sells smart speakers, tablets, etc. for “price X” and Amazon then offers nearly identical ones for a hair over half of “price X”, one just has to know that there will be a catch.

Be it one’s personal data being siphoned off surreptitiously, or the manufacturer suddenly turning the device into a blaster of unskippable ads, sooner or later one will always get exactly the worth of what one paid for any given product or service.

Echo devices, FireTV, Roku streaming trash, et al… all (future) e-waste worth exactly what was being paid for them in the first place. Very, very little, indeed.

Don't forget very "cheap" printer (looking at you HP) except the ad is expensive ink cartridges.

 

[Thinker_in_TX]

And yet without ads Ars wouldn't exist. We have an ad-free subscription, but not enough people pay for it to keep the site alive if we just stopped selling ads.

I'm not really into being moralistic about ad blocking or piracy or whatever else. People gotta do what they do. But there is a certain level of "if you don't support things in other ways then what?"

I used to be non-paying sponge being only a lurker but I forgot the particular article about something Rump was doing that made me decide to pay for a subscription. I'm very happy to pay for the subscription. My conscious is better and can post without guilt which I never did before.

 

[Thinker_in_TX]

Enshittification happens over time. I would have never bought a Nest thermostat and smoke detectors if I'd known they'd eventually be sold to Google.

I bought a FitBit fitness tracker years ago but when Google bought FitBit, I went looking for a replacement. First tried a Garmin but didn't like the SW and reluctantly bought another FitBit. Later I bought a iPhone which enabled an Apple watch which I then got when the FitBit died. The Apple watch is somewhat quirky but better than the Garmin. It also has the fall detection important at my age.

 

[Thinker_in_TX]

But the OP isn't talking about subliminal advertising, which as you say is pretty much universally regarded as so much bullshit. They're referring to ads that create an emotional impression rather than a rational or literate one. Ads overall strive to bypass the rational bits of the brain and go straight for the emotion centers. The last thing advertisers want is for their targets to actually start applying rational analysis to their claims. Visual ads, for the most part, don't tell; they show.

What you say is true about the emotional aspect. I remember a Toyota ad some years ago for one of their SUVs with a standard white American family with a kid. The ad was about how safe Toyota's were and getting home. In the background image was a stream with salmon swimming upstream to spawn. That emotional part about going home and the salmon swimming upstream was simply brilliant.

 

[MaidenHaus]

Need to Flash my Echo Show HD 8 to a non Zon OS.
When I do a 'Feedback' it's not nice at all, I tell them, As a 62 year old retired programmer, why in the fuck are you trying to sell me Yoga leggings things?

 

[plebe]

I bought an original Echo Show which never had ads, but was after they were selling Kindles with clearly marked "ad-supported" vs. non-ad supported. I reached out to Amazon and asked them to turn off ads because I never purchased an ad-supported version and years later it's now showing ads - they said they couldn't, so I asked for a refund - and despite it being 5+ years old they did. Not certain if they do this en masse but it absolutely should be what manufacturers expect when they deploy ads to a device years after customers purchase it - that and credit card chargebacks

 

[bthest]

So... just to refresh my memory, why do people buy these in the first place?

Because they're bundled in with stuff that someone might want. They then pupate in their box in dark basements or closets for 1-2 years before being deposited in thrift stores and Goodwills where they emerge to find their primary hosts. Pretty similar to the life cycle of tape worms.

 

[paulg8]

Anytime I see an ad on a service or device for which I paid, I will purposefully avoid the product or service being advertised. This goes all the way back to when movie theaters started showing ads before the showtime. It never has been okay. It never will be okay.

Any marketing person trying to spin these ads as some selfless act of "helping people discover new content and products they may be interested in" can put a gun to their head and blow their brains out for all I care.

They have brains?

 

[comadose]

If your country's consumer laws don't let you return these things when they enshittify them, lobby your politicians for the right.

 

[fonix232]

I've noticed the same on broadcast television. I forget which show I was watching, but during the show itself there were several consecutive ads shown in the lower-right corner of the screen about other shows on that service. And - kind of the ultimate, I guess - the same thing happened during the commercial breaks, so I was seeing ads within other ads for other things. We have apparently reached the Ad Saturation Point, and will soon cross over the Ad Event Horizon.

But at least there will be advertisements for it.

To be perfectly fair, ads for other shows has been a thing at least since the 90s. I remember watching ripped SyFy/Sci-Fi Channel shows where the bottom 1/5 or even 1/4 was taken up by an ad (generally a well crafted one, mind you) for another show.

 

[SixDegrees]

To be perfectly fair, ads for other shows has been a thing at least since the 90s. I remember watching ripped SyFy/Sci-Fi Channel shows where the bottom 1/5 or even 1/4 was taken up by an ad (generally a well crafted one, mind you) for another show.

I'm aware. But it used to be maybe one ad per show segment, now it's four or five, and ads overlaid on top of other ads is definitely something new.

 

[MagicVolcano]

So let me get this right: you pay for the device. You pay for the network it requires. You pay for then electricity it needs. You pay for Amazon Prime. You pay and pay and still get ads. It's a level of dystopia not even Orwell could have dreamed of. Stop making your shitty ad strategy my problem. Put these landfill candidates in the trash where they belong.

 

[SixDegrees]

So let me get this right: you pay for the device. You pay for the network it requires. You pay for then electricity it needs. You pay for Amazon Prime. You pay and pay and still get ads. It's a level of dystopia not even Orwell could have dreamed of. Stop making your shitty ad strategy my problem. Put these landfill candidates in the trash where they belong.

I'm not sure why paying for anything is pertinent. The providers can simply claim that you're paying less than you would if not for ads.

I don't like ads germinating everywhere like so much mold, but there's a broad spectrum between completely free and completely paid for that ads fill in.

 

[AverageDutchGuy]

This constant pushing of ads has entirely devalued ads. Especially on services like Youtube, if it was a single 10 second ad, I might still keep eyeballs on the screen and the audio enabled. Now that we get 1+ minutes of ads, I mute the device, put it down and get up to grab a drink or something. I'm paying far less attention to ads in these long blocks and I can't imagine this wouldn't mean they'd be far less expensive. In effect Google et-al made their own product worthless by over-pushing it to an already ad-saturated market.


"This is the first of our planned upgrades. Once we can roll back some of Halliday's ad restrictions, we estimate we can sell up to 80% of an individual's visual field before inducing seizures, so picture this..."
80% of a users visual field indeed...

 

[Ravant]

An ESP32 and a cheap touchscreen allowed me to ditch my Google/Amazon device.

 

[migrena]

Enshittification happens over time. I would have never bought a Nest thermostat and smoke detectors if I'd known they'd eventually be sold to Google.

fair. then the correct algorithm should look like this.
Step 1 - Do not buy products from companies who do this sort of thing.
Step 2 - If you have one, turn the device off.
Step 3 - If you have one, throw it in the trash where it belongs.

 

[Mental Gear Reduction]

An ESP32 and a cheap touchscreen allowed me to ditch my Google/Amazon device.

That's going to be way past most people's tech ability. Even with the Ars crowd, that kind of thing is officially A Project.

Talking about what you actually did and the problems you had would help point folks in the right direction.

 

[EvolvedMonkey]

So... just to refresh my memory, why do people buy these in the first place?

I used an echo show as a camera and video intercom for a relative for a short period. In night mode it was just a clock at all times and didn’t cause distractions.

Now it’s just a brick as I have no unused for it.

 

[kaibelf]

Want to know how to improve the ad experience? Don’t show me any f#%*ing ads.

 

[DancesWithBikers]

Ads were never part of the deal when I bought my Echos. Yes, I know...


View: https://youtu.be/3D8TEJtQRhw?si=0LZhYGT1HZfB0_SE

 

[bbanditx79]

I have a both Google and Amazon smart devices around my place, however, I'd already decided I no longer will get Amazon based hardware since they push ads on all of their stuff and limit the customization you can do to them. They definitely should realize that some of their tactics will ultimately cost them market share of course maybe they don't care since they aren't making any money on this stuff, but they better watch out since if people are dropping their Alexa and FiveTV devices perhaps they also end up dropping Prime too.

 

[adrianovaroli]

So... just to refresh my memory, why do people buy these in the first place?

For the same reason so many things are ruined or crumbling the way they are: because somebody wanted something cheap, quickly, and this was sold to them as cheap and simple, quickly.

You'll notice the same pattern elsewhere, if you look.

 

[contrasia]

Look outside your window. You see that giant amazon Ad on the Billboard that literally covers all the space of your window? That's how it is now. Every window will have Ads, leaving you in permanent shade without sunlight for the rest of time. When your doorbell goes, it's an Ad, because it's Amazons Ring. When you go to lock your door, you get an audio ad, because it's Amazons smartlock. When you try to argue with your wife, it'll be 10 minute ads first before you can even say the first word, because they're trying to help you.

One day, you'll wakeup, half dead in your bed wondering why you even open your eyes, because all you can see projected onto your ceiling are ads about better days at more affordable prices that are still beyond your financial capability, because times have changed. The peasents that work the hardest and the longest get the least amount of time for entertainment, which is then compiled with even less time thanks to Ads, whilst the rich who have the most time to enjoy themselves, get the extra time. Forget which future is coming, we're already in the dystopian age we all hoped would never come.

 

[Falos]

First they will sell an ad free subscription for $1.99 on TOP of the ride fair
6 months later they will have some ads at $3.99 and add free will be $19.99

*fares

Impressive analysis of inevitable "free market" forces though, at some point you start being cheeky and joking but it's scary that I don't know where the line is. Haven't I heard of hotels or whatever that try to jam RF or block hardline hotspots or such? Occasionally busted and fined on the former, of course.

In my book, anything that phones home first during boot is answering you second and thinking it's "yours" is an indulgent fantasy. For most products you can survive ignoring the tradeoff (or even find alternatives) but transportation is hard necessity to avoid and now I'm picturing (more than ever after your post) apologists saying the future status quo is "what people wanted anyway or they would've voted with their wallet".

Suckers aren't votes, but I do look to septembers to predict the future anyway.

 

[Ravant]

That's going to be way past most people's tech ability. Even with the Ars crowd, that kind of thing is officially A Project.

Talking about what you actually did and the problems you had would help point folks in the right direction.

It wasn't much, I just grabbed ESPHome, and followed all of their easy-to-follow instructions on building a dashboard.

 

[agpob]

The biggest problem I have with these things is that there's no way to opt out and they can decide how many ads to push on you. There should be a way for me to pay more upfront and have an ad free experience. No, I'm not paying for a subscription.

Amazon is particularly bad about this. I pay for Prime, but they still try to show me ads in Prime Video. It's nuts.

default response..."research by our marketing dept show that people want more ads."

 

[spinup]

Hasn't everyone learned yet? The only tech company you can trust is Apple.
Don't even bother using anything made by Amazon or Google.
They both stink. It amazes me that they are still in business - oh - and Microsoft, purveyor of fine virus-ware. Them, too.

 

[mmiller7]

I made the mistake of getting an Amazon TV - it was a good price and I just needed it for the display. Every time I turn it on, it insists that it needs to be hooked up to the wifi. Still haven't done that, but it's a process every time just to get it on to HDMI 1.

I think I would return that as defective and buy something else if it was me. I can't stand that trend. I'd rather have nothing than that nonsense.

 

[MDN]

I used to think I wanted one. Now I think I'll never want one.