Wow, I like my Google Home, but if I heard something like this, I think I would return it immediately. And a lot of other people would too. It's supposed to be a neat tool, not an advertising platform.<p>This would basically be the equivalent of a Pixel phone showing a random ad on the home screen after you sign in. That would also make me return my phone if it were to happen.
People are outraged because audio ads sound a lot more intrusive than visual ones. Google can seamlessly show ads on the web, but not so much on speakers. There's also a bigger shock because people presumably anthropomorphize the assistant and think of this as a betrayal. Everyone is trying to sell you stuff through these assistants. Maybe people don't want sales assistants.
I wonder if this was, in fact, an ad.<p>"By the way, it's Groundhog day today" or "By the way, [random interesting fact about the current date]" seems more like an inprovement.<p>I suspect that Google just somehow entangled 2017-03-18 with that movie release date, and people started to wonder if Gogole was somehow paid to do that.
I feel someone with authority should ask Google about their official stance on this. For both current and future products.<p>When I buy a device, I want to know up front if I will be seeing ads. If someone wants to take my money <i>and</i> feed me ads I normally take my business elsewhere.