The promotional campaign for the new Spider-Man movie is currently impossible to miss—especially if you are behind the wheel of a BMW.
Owners of the German luxury brand's vehicles worldwide have encountered an unexpected notification: advertisements for the blockbuster Spider-Man: Brand New Day have appeared on their cars' multimedia system screens. Predictably, this has sparked a fierce wave of discontent among drivers, largely because the automaker previously promised never to use car screens to display advertisements, according to Robb Report.
Starting in late July, drivers of relatively recent BMW models began noticing banners featuring the superhero on their central displays.
Shortly before the film's theatrical release, according to BMW Blog, an over-the-air (OTA) update was rolled out in 70 countries for vehicles produced after 2020 running on the iDrive operating system (versions 7 through X).
The Spider-Man graphics and animation were broadcast via the built-in "Festive App," which is typically used to display seasonal greetings.
The campaign is the result of a massive partnership between BMW and Sony Pictures (the brand's cars appear in the movie itself).
However, users did not appreciate the joke. On social media and specialized outlets like The Hollywood Reporter, the innovation has already been called "insanely dystopian" and compared to the dark series Black Mirror.
The situation was compounded by the fact that less than three years ago, Stephan Durach, BMW's Senior Vice President of UI/UX Development, publicly stated that the company would never place ads on dashboards, as the multimedia zone should remain a "personal space" for the driver.
Representatives of the Bavarian auto giant rushed to justify the move, stating that the appearing animation is not an advertisement and that the company still has no plans to introduce third-party marketing into its vehicles.
"As noted in many reports, this animation is part of a major brand partnership that included product placement in the film and the display of a special version of the car on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere," the company explained. "This was intended solely as a welcome experience to celebrate our cars starring in the new movie. The feature is available for a limited time and is only visible to drivers who activate it themselves on the touchscreen."
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