Amazon's Giant Ads Have Ruined the Echo Show (theverge.com)
- Reference: 0179741814
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/10/10/1021221/amazons-giant-ads-have-ruined-the-echo-show
- Source link: https://www.theverge.com/report/797672/amazon-echo-show-ads-alexa-plus
> Last week, Amazon launched a major update of its line of Alexa-enabled Echo smart speakers and displays. The redesign -- led by former Microsoft design chief Ralf Groene, whom Amazon Devices & Services head Panos Panay coaxed out of retirement -- included two new Echo Show smart displays. According to Panay, these new models are the first step on a road to building "products that customers love."
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> But there's one big barrier to customers loving their Echo Shows: ads. In recent months, full-screen display ads with the tag "sponsored" have been appearing on current Echo Shows, and users are not happy. They just started popping up on my device this week, and they are very intrusive, appearing between photos when the Show is set to Photo Frame mode or between content if it's set to show different categories (such as music, recipes, news). As I type, the last-gen Echo Show 8 on my desk showed an ad for an herbal supplement between a snapshot of my daughter dancing at her aunt's wedding and a baby picture of my son. The ad reappeared two photos later, and then again. And again.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/report/797672/amazon-echo-show-ads-alexa-plus
Oh, It's these Assholes Again (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon. By now anyone purchasing an Amazon device should know that they're about to get shit on all over again in the form of ads, ads, and more ads.
Re: (Score:2)
Which devices are worse for shitting on "consumers" with ads: Google or Amazon?
Re: Oh, It's these Assholes Again (Score:4, Interesting)
Definitely amazon. Never even once seen an add on my Google home display. Never
Re: (Score:3)
Amazon for sure, we have some of each and the Amazon stuff is ads and upselling and notifications about how something you looked at on Amazon got marked down. The Google stuff only throws ads from Youtube, Youtube Music and so on when using those.
IoT == Internet of Trash (Score:2)
EOM
Scorpion or hubris? (Score:2)
I obviously don't expect better from these sorts of people; but I'm honestly puzzled as to why they would turn the screws so quickly and blatantly despite having gone to all the trouble of a reshuffle and a new lineup and some spiel about being likeable rather than Alexa just being something that you sort of poke at because Prime members were given a free surveillance puck with some offer one time.
Is Panay one of those abhuman lunatics who genuinely thinks that the only objection to relentless advertisin
Re:Scorpion or hubris? (Score:4, Insightful)
Here we have "acceleration of enshittification". It's now a race to see who can ruin their product most quickly to screw over their customers for money.
The only way to win is not to play.
Re: (Score:2)
> The only way to win is not to play.
I do think there is some tacit merit in the intolerably pretentious open source purist position. People find it annoying, but "If I don't control the exact source code running on my device, I don't really own it" does seem to be the resounding truth of 2025. And everything running in the cloud or a few specific social media websites just compounds the cost.
Every shitty business idea we could all see coming decades ago has come to pass.
Re: (Score:2)
Because number must go up very fast in this AI bubble market.
Oh fuck off.... all of this can fuck off. (Score:2)
The jackoff advertisers, the jackoff CEOs who decide to pile on more ads, the people who try to gaslight those who notice and object, the people who act like their being apathetic means those who notice need to be apathetic as well / are wrong for not being apathetic, THEY ALL need to fuck all the way off a god damned cliff.
In fairness, if they're selling below cost... (Score:2)
This sucks, but....it's well known that Amazon devices are sold at a loss, especially Alexa. You kind of knew some shenanigans would ensue. If you're not the customer, you're the the product...if you buy something that costs a fortune in ongoing maintenance and is sold at a loss...well...you have to be smart enough to know your data is worth a few hundred a year when Amazon already has your most valuable data (purchasing history, tastes in media, medical needs, and family tree) already. At best, you can
Re: (Score:2)
From a legal and moral perspective, it doesn't matter that they sold it at a loss. People paid for it, then Amazon remotely sabotaged it.
At least that's how it will look to people that don't realize it depends on remote services. I still tend to think this way. Intentional remote degradation of UX should not be legal without the option to opt out. Obviously this is an economic/legal can of worms, though.
Re: (Score:3)
Apple might be held back by not wanting to sell hardware at a loss. So, even if it is premium, you'd see a puck speaker for $150 vs the ones from Amazon and Google that they give away on Black Friday for $20.
Re: (Score:2)
The Google Home Mini was a decent speaker when it was $20 on sale. I think Google was going for marketshare with Assistant rather than trying to monetize the device directly, so it was kind of a win for me. The assistant is still useless (actually more useless than it was when I bought the speakers), but I can't buy the Chromecast Audio devices I really want anymore and the (non-Google) WiiM Pro is a lot more expensive for the same functionality. All I need is something that supports speaker groups with
Re: (Score:2)
> Making Alexa is not THAAAAT hard
Last year, the WSJ reported that Amazon lost $25 billion on Alexa from 2017-2021, partially from selling devices below cost but mostly because of development costs. It seems like it's harder than you think.
Billboard (Score:5, Insightful)
It is basically like having an electronic billboard in your house. If someone years ago suggested this would happen, they would be thought of as crazy.
Counterproductive (Score:2)
I wonder how many advertisers realize how much market they lose by associating their product with negative experiences. Even sobconciously.
Why do you buy this stuff? (Score:2)
Why do you buy this stuff?
Seriously. Why?
I have no sympathy. (Score:1)
Anyone who bought an internet of shit device with a video screen should have seen this coming. Amazon put ads in their internet of shit TVs. Why wouldn’t you expect ads everywhere else?
Disgusting (Score:3, Informative)
I hate ads.
I also hate clueless fucks with a podium, like this clown on The Verge.
Anyone can turn off the ads in the Echo. Go to settings and enable Alexa privacy. No more ads.
Pay me you worthless fucks!
Re:Disgusting (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember when people said the same about Roku. Just go into the menus and turn off the ads. Then they added them to the screensavers. Then the home screen, unremovable. Now they are also modifying it to stop pi-holes from working. This is the end game from Amazon. Just quit them now.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't want to pay for an Apple TV, so I hope the Roku doesn't get worse for a while. And Roku supports both Airplay and Miracast protocols.
Personally, I can ignore content blocks that don't interest me. The only ads you can't disable are in a dead area of the UI that never had anything. Yes, they do have promotional background images and all that, but the UI hasn't been totally ruined so I will tolerate it until something better comes along.
Re: (Score:2)
We echo owners try repeatedly to turn off the ads but they keep coming back via various tricks Amazon does to the echo devices and configurations over time. Are you sure your solution (enable Alexa privacy) actually works to stop ads for good? Stopping the ads under alexa privacy is only stopping one minor slice of the various different types of ads that Amazon serves on the echo devices.
Here's how to access this privacy setting to turn off "Interest-Based Ads from Amazon on Alexa":
1) Open the Alexa app
2) C
Re: (Score:2)
You're spot on. I appreciate the info from SlashbotAgent, but this cat and mouse game just keeps getting worse.
Another ad area is in the follow ups. Ask it something benign like, "What's the weather today?" and it often follows its answer with an annoying follow up question like, "By the way, you have pending notifications. Would you like me to read me?" It also throws in ads for its services in the follow ups, or asks if you want to enable features, or train to learn your voice, etc etc.. I just want to co