Posted on 08/05/2026 6:17:38 PM PDT by thegagline
BMW owners are tearing into the luxury automaker after it pushed an ad for the new “Spider-Man” movie onto dashboard screens in cars they had already paid tens of thousands of dollars to own.
The full-screen animation — delivered through BMW’s main Control Display — triggered an immediate backlash from drivers who accused the German automaker of treating privately owned vehicles like rented advertising space.
“Paying 50-100k for a car, yet still getting ADs,” one furious Reddit user wrote. “Next we need adblocker for cars.”
BMW should stop with this s–t,” another said.
The anger was fueled by BMW’s prior pledge that it would not sell space on its in-car screens to advertisers.
The ad appears as a banner when the car starts. Drivers can click it to launch a 19-second, full-screen animation with music and a light show synchronized through the vehicle’s ambient lighting system.
Drivers don’t have to open the ad, but they can’t avoid seeing the banner. There’s no skip button.
The spot rolled out starting July 27 and is scheduled to remain live through Aug. 10 on eligible BMWs built after July 2020 and running BMW Operating Systems 7, 8, 8.5, 9 or X.***
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Sounds like they’re having trouble handling ‘technology’.
That’s funny. A man’s home is his castle. You’d like to think the inside of his car is too.
Here's what BMW owners in the U.S. commonly pay extra for.
| Service | Subscription? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BMW Digital Premium | Yes (about $9.99/month or annual option) | Enhanced navigation, entertainment apps, AI assistant features, extra My Modes, premium maps, third-party apps. |
| ConnectedDrive Services | Yes (after included period) | Traffic information, online services, connected navigation, some remote services depending on model. |
| Remote Camera / Remote 3D View | On some models | Lets you view the vehicle remotely through the My BMW app. Availability varies. |
| Entertainment Package | Yes | Video streaming, games, music services. |
| Connected Music | Yes | Requires BMW subscription plus services like Spotify Premium. |
| Advanced map features | Yes | Satellite imagery, 3D landmarks, expanded traffic data. |
I saw this with Steve Lehto today. Not sure who said it but if you’re not paying for a service, you are the product.
I imagine these suckers will probably have to pay extra to get rid of the ads too.
That would make me extremely angry.
I’d never buy another product from anyone that did this.
If they can send an advertisement to your car’s screen, what else can they send?..............
And what else can they do remotely that you DON’T know about?
I am not sure who the Spider Man fan at BMW was, but he probably will soon be looking for a new gig.
Now if it had worked, the guy would be a hero.
Several notable instances of in-car advertising from Chinese brands have sparked heavy domestic backlash:
1. Changan’s DeepalDeepal
Changan’s premium EV brand faced a major privacy and user-experience debate after pushing intrusive infotainment advertisements directly to owners’ screens. The pop-ups ignited widespread online criticism regarding a lack of transparent consent protocols and the risk of driver distraction.
2. NIO
Owners of NIO vehicles have repeatedly taken to Chinese social media to post complaints about promotional pop-up notifications interrupting their dashboard interfaces. Because NIO relies heavily on a lifestyle brand ecosystem (selling merchandise, energy services, and community events), it has used its screen real estate to market these corporate branches directly to drivers.
3. Great Wall Motor (HAVAL)
Great Wall Motor’s popular HAVAL SUV brand has trended on Chinese platforms after drivers complained that commercial pop-up advertisements were triggering right on the center console. The backlash mirrored the exact safety concerns Western drivers are expressing now: that unprompted pop-ups block vital driving UI like navigation maps.
4. Foreign Joint-Ventures in China (VW & Mercedes)
Interestingly, global brands often test these aggressive ad boundaries in China before trying them globally. Both FAW-Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz have faced major trending backlashes on Chinese social media for pushing pop-up ads to vehicle navigation systems while owners were actively driving.
Mahindra’s flagship premium SUV, the XUV700, made major headlines when owners began reporting unexpected commercial pop-up advertisements directly on their continuous dual-screen infotainment setups.
The Incident: Owners posted screenshots online showing corporate third-party advertisements—such as a promotional banner for Scotch-Brite cleaning products and Amazon Echo devices cluttering the center dashboard.
The Backlash: The incident sparked heavy criticism on automotive forums like Team-BHP and Reddit. Indian drivers heavily mocked the vehicle online, with viral comments joking that they “got ADS instead of ADAS” (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems).
The Root Cause: Unlike BMW’s direct manufacturer partnership with Sony, Mahindra’s ads were tied into the car’s native built-in Amazon Alexa integration.
The vehicle’s connected OS allowed Amazon to push sponsored content onto the screen, though users were eventually able to dive into deep software settings to manually disable the connected-ad permissions.
They can eavesdrop...................
As I understand it, you will never actually own your vehicle if it was made in 2026, or will be made in the future.... All the computerized crap.and its built in corporate /government spyware will see to that.
Some brands / models you soon won’t even be allowed to change a flat tire without a factory certified technician.
Like Klaus Schwab and his WEF cronies say: “You will own nothing and be happy.” (or else).
Bud Light has still not recovered from that little fag trying to sell beer, or the chain Cracker Barrel remodeling when the customers hated it...and that Jaguar commercial that was disgusting... ∞
Oh, de-ah! How DAYA they botha those BMW ownahs with ads!
The guy that invented the pop-up AD should die a slow painful death….
If the screen is under warranty...
I wish they would get this upset over the “migrants” turning Germany into Syria.
Last decade thinking there.
With BMW, you pay for the service AND you are the product. But you do get to drive like an (vulgarity deleted).
I would not only say "no." But "Aw hell no!"
Here’s wishing bankruptcy on BMW.
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