Are you preparing for a summer cookout? If you head over to Amazon now, you can pre-order the retailer’s most popular new charcoal grill: the Google Pixel Buds Pro.
Yes, that sentence you just read didn’t make sense, but Amazon’s search engine thinks it does! The algorithm has apparently decided that not only do the new charcoal-colored earplugs count as a “charcoal grill”, they have apparently been the best-selling product in that category for over 24 hours (via Reddit and Mishal Rahman) without Amazon doing anything about it.
See for yourself:
One of these things is not like the other. Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Tech Warrior
“#1 new release in charcoal grills,” reads Amazon’s badge.
In general, I wouldn’t read too much about badges you would see on an Amazon product. Another example, did you know that the “Amazon’s Choice” badge is not a stamp indicating any kind of quality? It’s algorithmically distributed to all sorts of products you’d think don’t deserve it.
And don’t get me started on Amazon’s user reviews — though the company there clearly knows it has a problem, and carries out major enforcement actions every year (like this recent crackdown on fake review groups on Facebook).
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on the deluge of Chinese brands generating random letters that appear when you search for products. It’s interesting to see how many of them are also on the charcoal grill list – including legendary brands like RESVIN, Cecarol, Oilzz, YSSOA and DOIT.