Amazon faces employee backlash over Chris Hemsworth’s role amid Washington Post layoffs: ‘It is an insult to us…’
Actor Chris Hemsworth appeared on Amazon’s internal organizational chart on Thursday morning as the “Chief Heartbeat” for the e-commerce giant’s voice assistant Alexa Devices, reporting to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, according to a report from Reuters.
The ‘Thor’ actor was given an Amazon email address and was assigned the role of bar raiser, a high-profile internal position for employees involved in hiring across the company. However, the news portal stated that Hemsworth was demoted by reporting to the head of devices and services late on Thursday.
The report quotes Hemsworth’s description of the graphic as follows: “When I’m not starring in movies, I enjoy spending time with my family, campaigning for Ad Meter votes, snake wrangling, bear wrestling, hammer throwing, and a good cinnamon bush.”
This was a publicity stunt designed to promote Amazon’s Super Bowl commercial showcasing Alexa’s artificial intelligence capabilities. In the ad, Hemsworth imagines his own death caused by the Alexa AI, including scenes of him being crushed under a garage door, drowning in his pool, and wrestling a bear set loose on him. Alexa’s voice in the ad finally reassures him that this is a force for good.
Companies spend huge amounts on expensive advertising during the annual football championship. This year, the cost of a 30-second broadcast of commercials was approximately $8 million. Amazon’s rivals in AI, Anthropic and OpenAI are also airing Super Bowl ads this year.
Concern among employees
But for Amazon employees, the company’s latest move seemed insensitive, given recent layoffs and falling stock prices following Thursday’s disappointing fourth-quarter earnings report. Last week, the company laid off 16,000 corporate employees, most of whom worked on Alexa, the report said.
The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, began widespread layoffs on Wednesday, laying off a third of its staff.
The report quoted an employee on a social media site used by Amazon staff: “This certainly makes up for the feeling of emptiness of cleaning my colleague’s desk and meeting him out front with his boxes, given that he was laid off last week.”
“This is more of an insult to the rest of us than a joke,” another wrote.
An Amazon spokesperson told the news portal that this was a “fun internal Easter egg as we head into the Big Game this weekend.” He refused to respond to employees’ concerns.
This week, Amazon announced that its new Alexa service, powered by generative artificial intelligence, will be available to all Prime members. Alexa, which can answer questions, assist with purchases and manage some home automation with voice commands, has suffered financial losses since its launch more than a decade ago. To turn that around, the company is investing heavily in Alexa’s AI-powered upgrade, as shown in this week’s ad.
