BMW promised that it would not put ads on the car’s screen; in recent weeks, Spider-Man has appeared there

BMW owners in more than 70 countries, including Brazil, were surprised by an animation of Spider-Man that appeared alone in the multimedia center of their cars, without anyone having asked for it. The content, linked to the movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, from Sony with Marvel, was available between July 27 and August 10 and caused a wave of complaints on forums and social networks. The German automaker denies that it is advertising.

The sequence began with a banner announcing a surprise on the Control Display screen. By tapping on the warning, the driver saw a video of about 19 seconds in full screen, with a soundtrack and ambient lighting from the cabin synchronized to the images, in which Spider-Man jumps on a BMW. The shipment reached vehicles manufactured from July 2020 onwards equipped with the BMW Operating System in versions 7, 8, 8.5, 9 or X, as long as they had the native Festive App.

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A 2023 statement has recirculated

What amplified the irritation was the history. In 2023, executive Stephan Durach, then in charge of BMW’s software development, publicly stated that the car’s interior and screens were a private space and that the company had no plans to sell advertising there. Two years later, with the promotion of a third-party film occupying the Control Display, the phrase reappeared in the reviews of owners.

BMW repeats the same answer to different media outlets: it is a commemorative animation delivered by the Festive App, as part of the partnership with Sony and Marvel, and not an ad according to the company’s definition. Part of the customers reject the distinction. There are records of people sifting through menus to prevent the warning from appearing again. The content, it is worth saying, was restricted to the multimedia center — it did not invade the instrument panel or the security alerts, and only ran when activated.

iX3 and Series 5 appear in the film

The action is part of a broader agreement between the automaker and the studio. The iX3, the first model of the new generation Neue Klasse, and the 5 Series not only appear but are incorporated into the plot of the feature, released in theaters on July 31. For the debut, BMW also produced a unique example, the iX3 Flow – Spider-Man Brand New Day, with colorful electronic paint panels that display animated graphics on the bodywork. The car is on display at the BMW Welt in Munich until September.

For the owners who complained, the problem is not the movie or the character, but the precedent: if the manufacturer can push a promotional animation into an already paid car, nothing prevents the screen space from becoming a media point. It is the same debate that already surrounds televisions and cell phones subsidized by ads, now transposed to a good that costs tens of thousands of reais and that the buyer considers private.