Amazon's Lost Puppy Super Bowl Commercial Backfires: 'Get This Creepy Technology Away From Our Homes'
One of the many Super Bowl commercials that aired during Super Bowl LX was one from Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) unit Ring. The ad focused on the power of smart home cameras being able to help find lost puppies. The commercial also sparked backlash from a senator and has consumers asking questions about video surveillance.
Amazon Cancels Flock Safety Contract
Amazon acquired Ring for $1 billion in 2018, and the home security company has faced allegations of spying and privacy concerns over the years. The Super Bowl commercial, while viewed as heartwarming to many, has raised new concerns and has Amazon playing defense.
The ecommerce giant announced it has cancelled its planned partnership with surveillance company Flock Safety, as reported by The Verge. Flock Safety works with law enforcement agencies, adding to consumer concerns about how their Ring footage could be used.
"Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated. We therefore made the joint decision to cancel the integration and continue with our current partners," Ring told The Verge.
The company said that no Ring videos were sent to Flock Safety as the planned integration was cancelled before launching.
Ring highlighted its mission to customers: to build trust and make neighborhoods safer, which comes after the Flock partnership faced severe customer and public backlash, amplified by the Super Bowl commercial.
Ring has partnered with police in the past and the company's partnership with Flock announced in October saw public outcry due to Flock's reported work with ICE, a claim that Flock denies.
Flock says that ICE does not have access to Flock cameras or data. Local agencies and customers are allowed to work with ICE and share their data directly, Flock says.
Ring previously partnered with Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON), the company that owns the Taser and makes body cameras. Requests can be put in by police agencies that use Axon services to get access to Ring cameras, but users have to approve the sharing of the footage.
Super Bowl Commercial Upsets Senator
The Ring Super Bowl commercial was ranked 10
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was not impressed.
"The American people have sent a clear message in response to Amazon's Super Bowl commercial seeking to promote the image recognition technology embedded in its Ring doorbells: Get this creepy technology away from our homes," the senator said in a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
The senator said the Super Bowl commercial showed users how easy Amazon's technology could be used to "surveil and identify humans."
"Last year Amazon rolled out facial recognition technology in its Ring doorbells, creating serious privacy and civil liberties risks."
Markey has previously spoken out about similar dangers since 2019, including a letter to Amazon in October 2025 urging the company to pause its "Familiar Faces" rollout.
"I once again call on Amazon to immediately discontinue this dangerous FRT feature."
Although the Super Bowl commercial was intended to show how lost pets could be identified, Markey said the ad instead highlighted the serious privacy and civil-liberties risks posed by Ring's technology.
"It's not hard to imagine the ways that Amazon – or law enforcement – could abuse this feature."
Photo: bluestork on Shutterstock.com
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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