Ring Doorbell's 'dystopian' Super Bowl ad is sparking privacy concerns

A Ring Doorbell commercial has had an unexpected reaction after airing during the Super Bowl.

The 2026 championship kicked off on Sunday night (8 February) at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Much of the broadcast is made up of commercials, with many promotional clips becoming a major part of the event themselves. Most games see a typical eye-drying 18 commercial breaks.

One commercial that has struck a nerve with the public promotes Amazon’s Ring Doorbell. Although the storyline is intended to be heartwarming, it has been branded by viewers as ‘terrifying’.

A Ring Doorbell is a video doorbell that lets homeowners see, hear, and speak to visitors at your door (such as delivery drivers, for example) from anywhere just by using your phone thanks to a built-in HD camera, microphone and speaker.

It allows for two-way conversations and remote monitoring to take place, enhancing home security and convenience (just in case you miss a delivery).

The new commercial promotes a new technological feature for the doorbell, and the ad explains how it works by addressing the missing pets crisis in the US.

A staggering 10 million animals go missing every year, the melodramatic ad explains.

"And the way we look for them hasn't changed in years," the voice of Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, narrates.

The solution to find these lost fur babies? A new Ring feature that lets pet owners upload an image of their lost dog or cat to the Ring app, which then starts a 'Search Party'.

This search sweeps through all Ring cameras in the neighbourhood looking for a match, as the ad explains: "Search Party from Ring uses AI to help families find lost dogs."

And that’s not all - the new feature is already in the works, with the ad claiming 'since launch, more than a dog a day has been reunited with their family'.

The Ring Doorbell ad sheds light on the missing pets crisis (Ring Doorbell)

The commercial concludes: "Be a hero in your neighbourhood with Search Party. Available to everyone, for free, right now."

According to Amazon News, Ring is also giving $1 million to more than 4,000 US shelters to help them use Search Party to reunite lost pets with their owners.

However, some social media users have been left 'creeped' out by the ad.

One X user wrote: “Ring just aired a commercial that said they’ll hack into ya camera if a dog is lost??”

Another person chimed in and said: “The Ring Ad was awfully dystopian. ‘Let’s trick the public into allowing us free reign of their home security cameras by using lost puppies’. What could possibly go wrong?”

Ring Doorbells are meant to add another layer of security and convenience to your home (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

A third person shared their thoughts on social media, writing: “That Ring ad will cause me to uninstall Ring.”

While a fourth shared: “I know that ring.com commercial about finding lost pets was supposed to be cute and heartwarming but the prospect of mass surveillance and human tracking should be alarming as f*ck.”

Tyla has contacted Amazon's Ring for comment.