Alexa Offers Cheeky Apology To Boston For Amazon's HQ2 Decision
BOSTON (CBS Local) — After announcing Amazon's selection of New York City and Northern Virginia as the destinations for the company's new HQs, Alexa is offering an apology to Boston and the other 18 finalist cities that were not selected.
The Please Apologize skill offers city specific, cheeky, apologies.
"Boston, we're sorry about this HQ2 thing," the Boston apology begins. "We tried to make it work. The thing is, we're star-crossed you and us. Well, coffee bean crossed. You love Dunkin. We love Starbucks."
"I know what you're thinking. Does a mug of original blend by any other name not smell as sweet? Well, no..."
The apology is not an official one from Amazon. The Please Apologize skill was built by Austin-based ad agency McGarrah Jessee, and released earlier this year.
"We thought of a lot of things Alexa should apologize for. Actually, we thought of a lot of things that other should apologize for, and a lot of things that deserve an apology that nobody is apologizing for. So we built a skill for that," said Jeremy Cox, digital director at McGarrah Jessee.
"Living in one of the finalist cities for HQ2 – after all the effort local governments put into their proposals and all the months we've waited for an answer – it would ease the pain if Amazon said 'I'm sorry.' We figured the only way to get that apology was to hack Amazon's own technology," said Sarag Weigl, creative director at McGarrah Jessee. "It's purely entertainment."
H/T CBS Denver