Smart Assistants for Smart Living: Ideology and Mythology in AI-Powered Smart Speaker Advertising

Abstract

This study examines advertising of top-selling voice-activated smart speakers in the United States to understand how advertisers are promoting these devices to consumers. The study identifies four representations of technology in smart speaker advertising. This includes technology as human, technology as self-expression and happiness, technology as progress, and technology as productivity. Engaging in semiotic analysis of select advertising, the study reveals deeper meaning, ideology, and myths in smart speaker advertising. Implications for culture and consumption are discussed.

Keywords

advertising smart speakers semiotics myth Utopia

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