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BMW owners are used to their car’s central screen handling navigation, music, settings, and warnings. They hardly expect it to advertise a movie to them. But that is exactly what BMW is doing now, and the way the company describes this ad campaign makes the situation even more absurd.
How this ad works
As part of a partnership with Sony and Marvel, compatible BMWs show a Spider-Man banner at startup. If you tap it, the car launches a full-screen animation promoting the movie “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” complete with music and an adaptive ambient light show. According to BMW, the promotion runs from July 27 to August 10 in more than 70 countries on appropriately equipped vehicles built after July 2020 and running BMW Operating Systems 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or X.
To be fair: this is not automatic advertising. Drivers need to tap the banner to launch the full-screen animation. But the banner itself still appears on the screen owners use to control the car. BMW calls it a “special surprise” and a “celebratory animation.” The finale, which promotes the film’s exclusive theatrical release, looks a lot like an ad because it is one.
BMW’s previous stance
The timing is especially unfortunate because BMW previously said it had no intention of selling space on screens inside its cars. In December 2023, BMW CEO Stefan Durach said the company saw no point in selling advertising space on screens because the cabin is a “private space.”
“Today I received this ad in my car as part of the ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ campaign” — user u/Milanista58 in the BMW community on Reddit.
Of course, that was before BMW tried to charge customers for activating already-installed seat heaters. The automaker eventually dropped the subscription after a predictably harsh wave of criticism. The Spider-Man campaign costs owners nothing, but it goes in the same direction: the car is treated as a software platform that can generate revenue long after it leaves the dealership.
Official statement from BMW
BMW confirmed the campaign to The Autopian, saying:
“The in-car animation is part of a broader brand partnership with the film. Several of our models, including the BMW iX3, appear in the movie, and a special edition iX3 was shown on the red carpet at yesterday’s premiere in Los Angeles.”
What this means for owners
BMW has every right to partner with a film studio. Owners may even decide to watch the animation if they want. But there is a difference between a festive greeting and turning the dashboard into an advertising billboard. The Spider-Man promotion will disappear on August 10. A more troubling idea may remain. When you buy a luxury car, you now agree that the automaker can lease out part of your ownership experience every time an advertiser pays for it.
This is not the first attempt to turn a car’s interior into a monetization channel. Other brands have already tried similar experiments, but against the backdrop of BMW’s earlier statements about a “private space,” this story looks especially telling. The cabin of a modern car is increasingly like a smartphone, where ads may become an integral part of the interface. And if today this is just an optional banner, later drivers may be offered a paid subscription to avoid seeing such messages altogether. The market is moving toward restricting access to car functions, and this campaign is just a small step in a direction that previously seemed unthinkable for luxury brands.
