BMW has again drawn its customers’ ire with a new in-vehicle advertising program. The German automaker has begun pumping ads for the new Spider-Man movie into most models made after 2020, reviving some of the criticisms levied against it a few years back when it attempted to paywall physical features like heated seats.
The ad appears on the car’s infotainment system, and while owners can choose to skip it, it remains in the interface as an app. “Surprise! Spider-Man just dropped into your BMW” appears, and tapping the ad opens a full-screen display and changes the interior ambient lighting.
BMW will continue running the promotion through Aug. 10, but owners didn’t waste any time complaining online. Reddit’s r/BMW forum is packed with comments, ranging from expletive-laden rants to claims that the ad program is “insanely dystopian.” Others pointed out that this isn’t BMW’s first foray into forced in-vehicle ads, but previous campaigns were related to the automaker’s products rather than to outside entities.
BMW vehicles themselves are also inserted into the latest film in the franchise, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” The new BMW iX3 and 5 Series “are not only visible, but woven into the plot of the new film,” the automaker announced in a press release ahead of the movie’s debut last week.
Beyond a potential annoyance factor, BMW’s Spider-Man tie-in raises interesting questions about ownership of physical products. People spending six figures or more on a luxury vehicle might feel like the ads are an invasion of privacy and ownership rights, and BMW’s executives agreed with that sentiment as recently as 2023, when a senior vice president told an industry publication that the company would not sell ads, calling vehicles “a private space.”
We’re highlighting BMW in this instance, but it is far from the only automaker exploring new revenue streams at the expense of owners’ convenience. Tesla ran ads for a new Tron movie in 2025, and Ford had to do damage control after filing a patent for in-vehicle ads in 2024.
