Advertising has gotten so pervasive that it wouldn't be surprising to find out that marketers are trying to figure out a way to beam ads straight into our minds.
Until they learn how to do that, though, advertisers are taking advantage of every possible space to place ads, which now includes appliances with screens such as the refrigerator in your home.
Posting in the r/a******design subreddit, the Redditor shared a photo they said was of their smart fridge, which featured an ad for the Apple TV+ television show "Pluribus" on the screen that read, "We're sorry we upset you, Carol."
They wrote, "Apparently my Samsung fridge has ads now. … How would I disable this? Might just return it and get a normal one." Another Redditor even claimed their sister, named Carol, had a mental health episode after seeing the advertisement and thinking someone was trying to communicate with her through her fridge.
A representative of Samsung Electronics America told The Cool Down, however, that the refrigerator in the image does not align with the company's models and that the only advertisements the company does run are for its own Samsung products in a pilot widget appearing at the lower part of the screen on a rotating basis, between features such as weather and calendar information, with the rest of the screen resembling a smartphone lock screen.
It does at least appear as though the model in the image resembles one sold in the United Kingdom, and The Cool Down has reached out to Samsung UK to inquire as to whether the advertisements were commissioned by the company or not.
Samsung Electronics America confirmed in October 2025 that it would be testing a pilot program that placed ads on some Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models, leading to some criticism online. The Samsung representative who spoke to The Cool Down speculated that someone may have used an internet browser available on a refrigerator that has an Android user interface and then encountered a popup ad from another source during that browsing session.
"Advertisements run through Samsung's pilot program can only appear as a small widget in designated areas on select Cover Screens," according to a company statement. "Users can turn off the advertisement widget at any time.
"When a user accesses the internet through the Family Hub web browser, native advertisements provided by third-party websites may appear, similar to an experience on a PC or mobile phone. This is unrelated to the pilot program and not controlled by Samsung."
Under the impression that this image from the Reddit post was an intentional one from Samsung, Reddit users added to those complaints when they responded to this post.
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"Real tech enthusiasts know to stay away from these awful things," wrote one person of appliances with bright screens and WiFi connections that may cause more problems than they solve. It should be noted that while these features could cause more energy usage, they may also at times allow a customer to decrease their energy usage by gaining greater ability to fine-tune their preferred temperature settings.
Another added, "I strongly suspect that they're going to be making this crap a standard feature on most fridges once they finish testing it on the early adopters. It will soon be hard to find a fridge that doesn't have it."
According to Fortune, people in the U.S. viewed only around 500 ads a day in the 1970s, but by 2023, they saw over 5,000 per day.
That's a whole lot of unwanted products and services inundating us as we go about our daily lives, which can have significant adverse effects on people.
The Michigan Journal of Economics studied the pros and cons of advertising and discovered that constant ads can negatively impact people's physical and mental health and promote negative stereotypes, among other things.
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When you're buying a kitchen appliance, which of these factors is most important to you? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Price 💰 Additionally, the overabundance of such ads can encourage people to buy more than they need or want, resulting in excessive consumption. This leads to more unwanted goods being tossed into our landfills, which then contribute to the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
Hopefully, the negative customer sentiment will be a clear signal to appliance makers that ads may drive away customers.
As one Redditor put it, "What in the dystopia?"
Editor's note: This article was updated to include statements from Samsung Electronics America.
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