For certain BMW owners, enormous car payments aren’t the only rude reminder that they don’t actually own their ride yet: now, irritating in-vehicle commercials will send them the same message.
Starting last week, the German automaker started blasting a promotion for the new Spider-Man movie into its customers’ cars without warning — because nothing says riding in luxury like a full-vehicle pop-up ad. BMW, showing that it was about as in-touch as its drivers are familiar with turn signals, teased the promotion as a “special surprise.”
According to The Autopian‘s coverage and the heaps of complaints online, the ad appears on the center console screen when you start up the car. When the ad’s done playing — a cheap looking animation that doesn’t come close to warranting all this hubbub — it even has the gall to ask you to scan a QR code.
While it does give you the option to play or skip the “festive animation,” it’s still an annoying extra step drivers have to take before pulling up the map they need or the music they want to listen to. It’s also a breach of trust: drivers keep their cars connected so they receive critical software updates, not unexpectedly see ads when they’re trying to hit the road.
Few owners were pleased. Enthusiasts in the r/BMW subreddit had a veritable meltdown when someone posted footage of the ad playing on their infotainment system.
“BMW should stop with this sh*t,” one user fumed.
“F*ck everything about this,” another said.
According to a BMW press release, this latest ad campaign has been available in more than 70 markets since July 27 and is scheduled to keep playing through August 10.
If any automaker would have the temerity to pull a shameless stunt like this, it’d be BMW, which has a history of monetizing the digital and hardware features in its cars with video game-style microtransactions. It previously demanded customers pay a monthly subscription fee to unlock their heated seats that were already installed in their vehicles, and an additional fee for heated steering wheels.
It also tried paywalling the widely popular Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration features — something no other automaker charges for — but backed off after massive backlash.
It’s not the only carmaker that’s gotten into hot water for repurposing infotainment screens into ad real estate. Last year, Jeep drivers were livid after the company’s vehicles started showing giant pop-up ads that badgered them into buying an extended warranty.
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