For exactly two days, Chris Hemsworth held one of the strangest titles ever to appear on a Fortune 500 org chart. In a surreal internal move tied to a Super Bowl marketing push, Amazon briefly listed the actor as its official “Chief Heartthrob”, reporting directly to CEO Andy Jassy. By the end of the week, the title was gone—quietly scrubbed after triggering internal backlash.
The stunt peaked on February 5–6, designed to build buzz for Amazon’s Super Bowl LX campaign promoting its new AI-powered assistant, Alexa+. Inside the company, employees discovered that Hemsworth had been fully integrated into Amazon’s internal systems. His profile wasn’t symbolic—it was detailed, searchable, and oddly thorough.
According to internal screenshots reviewed by reporters, Hemsworth’s “job description” included tongue-in-cheek responsibilities like “bear wrestling,” “snake wrangling,” and “hammer throwing,” all nods to his action-hero persona. More controversially, he was granted “Bar Raiser” status, a serious internal designation typically reserved for veteran Amazon employees trusted to uphold hiring standards. Within hours, colleagues—or mischievous admins—had awarded him hundreds of digital badges, from “CPR instructor” to “flan enthusiast.”
What was meant as an Easter egg landed awkwardly.
The timing proved disastrous. Just days earlier, Amazon had cut roughly 16,000 corporate roles, including significant layoffs within the Alexa division. For employees still processing those losses, seeing a Hollywood star “appointed” above them—however jokingly—felt tone-deaf.
By late Thursday, Hemsworth’s reporting line was quietly changed. No longer under the CEO, he was reassigned beneath the head of Devices and Services. Soon after, the entire profile disappeared.
Internal message boards lit up. One employee wrote that the stunt did little to ease the “hollow feeling” of helping coworkers clear out desks the week before. Another called it “an insult disguised as humor.” The joke, it seemed, had outlived its welcome.
Ironically, the external ad that sparked the chaos was widely praised. Airing during Super Bowl LX, the commercial—directed by Wayne McClammy—stars Hemsworth alongside his real-life wife Elsa Pataky. Set to INXS’s “Devil Inside,” it depicts Hemsworth spiraling into paranoia, convinced the new Alexa+ is plotting his demise through runaway garage doors, pool covers, and even a summoned grizzly bear. The message: the AI is powerful, maybe a little scary, but ultimately helpful.
For Amazon, the episode underscores a growing tension. The company is betting big on Alexa+ to revive a devices division long criticized as a money sink. Attaching Hemsworth’s charisma was meant to signal a blockbuster era for consumer AI. Instead, the brief reign of the “Chief Heartthrob” became a case study in how quickly corporate humor can misfire—especially when morale is already on edge.
Even A-list charm, it turns out, has limits in the boardroom.