Many BMW drivers across more than 70 countries have reported that their infotainment screens have been showing a pop-up message that, when tapped, plays a short video of a BMW iX3 driving through a city while Spider-Man swings alongside it.
The message has appeared on cars built since 2020 and quips “Surprise! Spider-Man just dropped into your BMW”. The backlash was near-instant as most customers were far from amazed. One reddit user said “This needs to be made illegal before everyone starts doing it…” That one comment received more than 13,000 upvotes.
BMW has since responded to critics, telling Techradar, “it is not a form of advertising”. Instead, claiming the surprise message is part of their “festive app”, a service designed to display “optional themed animations and messages”.
Thankfully, the message only appears when the vehicle is stationary and so is not being considered a potential distraction while driving.
It’s worth noting that these messages have not been found to display on any BMW vehicles in the UK or Ireland. Potentially because the UK’s ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has stringent regulations in place surrounding what is and is not to be considered advertising as well as rules for disclosing that information to the consumer.
This is not a story that uniquely affects electric vehicles, many internal combustion BMWs have displayed the message too. However, this kind of surreptitious promotion would not be possible without over-the-air updates. A feature that was first introduced in EVs, specifically Teslas.
While the scope of this incident seems not to cover the UK or Ireland for now, it’s put many new car owners on edge as it begs the question: If this is allowed, how long will it be before I need to watch an ad before I can drive to work?
We hope it never happens, but we have to remember that this comes from the same company that almost brought us subscription-based heated seats. BMW makes some of the best EVs you can buy right now. We just hope they’re responsible with all that power…
