Woman hospitalized after ad on Samsung smart fridge leads to psychotic episode

Samsung has many different models of smart fridges that have screens. Where there's a screen, there's always the possibility of advertisements. That possibility became true in September this year when Samsung confirmed it will start showing ads on its smart fridge screens.

Merely two months later, a woman with mental health challenges had to check herself into the hospital over fears of a psychotic break as she felt someone was trying to communicate with her through her Samsung smart fridge, when in reality, it was displaying an ad for a show on Apple TV+.

The story was shared on Reddit by a sibling of the user who has a medical diagnosis for schizophrenia. The user in question has had previous psychotic episodes and uses medicines to manage her condition.

Many images of the ad have since been posted online. Set against a bright yellow background, it reads “We're sorry we upset you, Carol.” Rather unfortunately, the user is also named Carol, which is why she felt someone was making an attempt to communicate to her through the Samsung smart fridge.

She had to be hospitalized for two days where doctors kept her under observation and adjusted her medications. Her sibling later saw the same ad on Facebook and when she sent her the photo, Carol confirmed that this is what she saw that triggered her psychotic episode.

Carol is the main character in Pluribus, a new show on Apple TV+ that's increasingly becoming popular. The ad copy also ties in with the current narrative on the show. So while it's completely harmless on its on, it would have certainly freaked out the user, particularly if she wasn't aware that her fridge can now show her ads.

Samsung did make it possible last month to turn off ads on its smart fridges. It's best to use this option to turn off ads on at least one of the screens you interact with daily.