Add The New York Post on Google 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.
“To say I’m selling the screen to play a commercial — I don’t see it,” BMW connected-company senior vice president Stephan Durach said in December 2023.
But less than three years later, BMW began sending the movie promotion to vehicles in more than 70 markets.
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.
BMW has stressed that the animation does not autoplay.
“F–k these a–holes selling cars to people THAT BMW still OWNs,” one commenter wrote.
Consumer advocates said BMW risks violating a basic expectation buyers have when they purchase a vehicle.
“These display screens are supposed to provide drivers with easy access to car controls like navigation, climate control, backup camera video, etc.,” Edgar Dworsky, founder of ConsumerWorld.org and a former assistant Massachusetts attorney general who worked in consumer protection, told The Post.
“Drivers don’t expect to be subjected to video advertising in the privacy of their own car and they shouldn’t be.”
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Dworsky said he expects BMW owners “to voice their displeasure loud and clear at this unexpected and unwelcome source of intrusive advertising.”
The dashboard animation was part of a massive Sony Pictures marketing campaign for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” that Deadline valued at $309 million in worldwide media exposure — an all-time Hollywood record.
The film opened with roughly $932 million in global ticket sales.
A Sony Pictures spokesperson told The Post that “you would need to talk to BMW as we can’t speak about their car designs.”
