The maker of expensive cars for twats and travelling salesmen, BMW, has enshittified its motors by pushing Spider-Man adverts into customers’ entertainment systems.
The German carmaker began blasting the promotion into selected vehicles last week, pitching it as a “special surprise”. Owners who thought they had bought a luxury car instead got a dashboard reminder that software-defined motoring is a bit of a racket.
According to The Autopian and a pile of online complaints, the ad appears on the centre console screen when the car starts. Once the cheap-looking animation has done its bit, it asks drivers to scan a QR code.
BMW says drivers can play or skip the “festive animation”. It still adds another needless step before the map, music or anything useful shows up.
The trust problem is obvious enough. Drivers keep cars connected for security patches and critical updates, not because they want their dashboard turned into a cinema foyer.
BMW owners on Reddit were not exactly delighted, particularly since they are the sort of people who cut you up on the motorway, come up behind you tooting because you are not breaking the speed limit by nearly enough, or part sideways in a supermarket carpark.
“BMW should stop with this sh*t,” one user fumed. Another kept it even shorter: “F*ck everything about this,” they said.
According to BMW’s press release, the campaign has been available in more than 70 markets since 27 July and is due to run until 10 August. That is nearly a fortnight of comic-book nagware in cars people already paid serious money to drive.
BMW has previous form here. The company tried charging a monthly fee for heated seats already fitted in cars, then had a crack at paywalling heated steering wheels.
It had a go at charging for the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto too, something rival carmakers managed not to monetise. BMW backed down after the sort of backlash that tends to arrive when customers realise they are being milked.
BMW is not alone in spotting that infotainment screens make tempting ad real estate. Last year, Jeep drivers were furious when their vehicles started showing giant pop-up ads pushing extended warranties.
