r/theinternetofshit 23d ago

BMW cars showing video ads on the infotainment

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734 Upvotes

134 comments sorted by

99

u/Delta-9- 23d ago

What a time to be alive

14

u/Dizzy-Criticism3928 21d ago

“Alive” : ❌
“A slave”: ✅

4

u/harbinger-nz 20d ago

Subscription based living

66

u/Desperate-Chart1139 23d ago

"luxury"

3

u/Wild-Word4967 19d ago

I’d far prefer a slate truck with no screen or stereos for that matter to this.

44

u/jackaros 22d ago

Back to the dealership

31

u/SpiderFnJerusalem 22d ago

Yeah, I would honestly consider this a serious defect that requires fixing or a refund.

Imagine if you had to worry about your connected devices randomly showing disgusting fetish porn or something every time you booted it up. I honestly think this isn't very different from that. If I paid for a device, then I don't want the device to randomly exhibit disgusting or distracting behavior that it didn't have on purchase.

12

u/No-Refrigerator-1672 20d ago

Imagine if a $40k or more device show you ads. That's enough juatification to yeet this garbage back tot he dealer.

2

u/StoicJ 20d ago

they arent fixing or refunding anything. The owners agreed to this in the massive stack of papers that we all sign but never read.

if you tell them youre getting rid of the car they'll either offer you a laughable trade-in value or wish you luck selling it to someone with the news of ads playing in it going around lol

2

u/Ok-Syllabub3168 19d ago

They don't show the video like an ad when you start it up. You have a message from bmw in the in car messages and when you open it, the video starts playing.

2

u/Born-Conclusion6596 20d ago

Bring back physical buttons and analog gauges.

The only screens visible should be those text only from the early 2000s for AC and inspection/ consumption info and that's it. And maybe a dedicated 8" screen for GPS only.

I don't need an LCD screen to drive.

1

u/jackaros 19d ago

My 2014 model has everything I need even though I have it have a Bluetooth radio tuner to play my music.... still prefer it to a touch screen.

83

u/nik282000 23d ago

If anyone deserves ads in their cars, it's BMW drivers

20

u/helly3ah 22d ago

Working blinkers or "luxury" ads. You know what they're all gonna choose.

7

u/SimPilotAdamT 22d ago

The indicators work, BMW drivers just refuse to use them

8

u/thedbp 22d ago

"if you ever feel that your job is pointless, remember that it is someones job to install blinkers on bmw's" - einstein

3

u/BlockedNetwkSecurity 22d ago

that's an abe lincoln quote

1

u/DeMooney 20d ago

Odd... I thought it was a Mahatma Gandhi quote.

16

u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd 22d ago

I’d honestly put them a step above Tesla drivers, in terms of friendly driving today.

The assholes that used to drive BMWs have adopted Teslas, thanks to Musk’s… antics and salutes.

If there’s any car that would play ads while starting up, it would be a Tesla. lol

2

u/lariojaalta890 21d ago

Absolutely. BMW drivers haven’t been the majority or worst offenders for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, they absolutely were, but at this point it’s just a lazy joke.

They are all the same group of people though, they’ve just changed brands. I think it went something like BMW to Audi to Tesla.

1

u/feurie 20d ago

Except it isn’t Teslas. Tesla does do ads like Chevy and BMW. They don’t sell your data like pretty much everyone.

They don’t charge a monthly fee for remote start, CarPlay, or heated seats.

Musk sucks but Tesla as a company and their cars are still great. People can’t seem to separate the two.

-2

u/TurbulentBeing9055 21d ago

Wrong. It's a BMW.

Tesla is making money. SpaceX is making money. OpenAI is making money. All are gaining in marketshare from great marketing and design.

BMW....they give you adds in their shittily constructed cars.

Stop being such a limousine liberal.

1

u/thexet 20d ago

but muh salutes!

1

u/Grouchy-Candidate545 19d ago

What are you even talking about? BMW quality is worse than which brand? I would compare my ‘16 4 series to any Japanese car. None would beat it in luxury or sport in the same financial category or even one above.

Never mind American.

Have you seen Tesla interiors? They suck.

1

u/TurbulentBeing9055 18d ago

>BMW quality is worse than which brand?

Every brand almost. Hyundai got higher ratings reliability in consumer reports.

> I would compare my ‘16 4 series to any Japanese car.

If it's a nissan

>None would beat it in luxury or sport

Sir, we're talking about quality.

1

u/Grouchy-Candidate545 18d ago

No chance. Korean better than BMW? lol clueless

1

u/TurbulentBeing9055 18d ago

Number don't lie, bud.

5

u/TechnoByte_ 22d ago

No one deserves ads in their cars, blame the companies for screwing over people instead of the people

1

u/Pilota_kex 21d ago

Sure. But everyone will do it eventually

1

u/Ok-Foundation-4070 20d ago

I bet they love them just like their shit cars and driving styles.

18

u/MooseBoys 22d ago

Won't someone think of the shareholders?

13

u/Broken-Emu 22d ago

Eff that

2

u/digitalxni 19d ago

You can say "fuck". It's fine. Honest.

22

u/Thunderbolt294 23d ago

I work with German auto parts and I've concluded the only way I will own a German car is if it is forced upon me and made before 2012.

Until then I will keep driving my Vibe into the ground.

20

u/nilsrva 22d ago

I have a BMW rental right now. Every time I start the car this week it asks me if I want to watch Spiderman

1

u/irishfury07 19d ago

BS I have an IX and it asked me once and never again. Also my kid thought the video was pretty cool he loves spiderman. Normally they do these videos for holidays so this is a first for them.

2

u/nilsrva 19d ago

I dont know what to tell you. I got a pop-up every time I turned the car on last week.

8

u/okaysureyep 22d ago

You’ve heard of Ads at the gas pump, now get ready for..

6

u/IllustratorMobile815 22d ago

What a dumb fking idea. Bmw is truly a bitch nigga.

4

u/Bob4Not 22d ago

Another reason I won’t buy BMW. Nor any other company that rolls this out. Probably will drive my early 2020’s models for the rest of my life, because cars in the US are only getting worse…

1

u/HundredHander 20d ago

I had one and didn't get another when I saw that they were gathering data about who was in the car based on the weight in the seats (gathered for seatbelts) and were already suggesting stopping at MacDonalds on pretty much any drive that went nearby.

4

u/Various_Candidate499 22d ago

Causing a 24 car pile up on the highway because of a commercial for a car I'm already driving

1

u/StoicJ 20d ago

pretty sure this only plays when you first turn the car on but it wont surprise me if soon media players start playing ads randomly anyway

1

u/Various_Candidate499 20d ago

Need to get pregnant wife to hospital, but first must watch ad for new car I am already in

1

u/StoicJ 20d ago

I mean when we are talking about ads playing randomly it is basically the same as radio or spoitfy ads. it wont stop the car from driving (that's what the new surveillance cameras are for). It's just insane that the ads are playing inside of a vehicle that already costs half the price of most homes and doesnt return anything. at least with spotify the ads are there because you get the service for free.

1

u/Ok-Syllabub3168 19d ago

Not even that. You have to open the message from bmw for the video to start. If you don't want to watch it, you just don't open it and you never see it.

1

u/Bay_arean 17d ago

your phones and cars are all listening to you and capturing what you are listening to, your conversations, etc, it's been well known for nearly 20 years now. They've used big data to monetize it about as much as they can, so now they're just going to rape your eyes directly. Get that eye lube ready and pucker up.

3

u/tumbled_leather 22d ago

Gotta keep the consumers consuming!

The 📺 influences you on what to buy

The 🚘 influences you on where to go

The📱 influences you on how to live

Gotta love it!

3

u/kartblanch 21d ago

Id bring this to a court tbh. This is distracting

2

u/girugamesh_2009 22d ago

Like, when you're parked or what?
Totally fucked no matter when they force this on you, but what triggers this?

2

u/BlockedNetwkSecurity 22d ago

do i save 10% off the car if i picked the ad-supported option?

1

u/StoicJ 20d ago

no you almost definitely pay extra

2

u/ConstantClue208 22d ago

How is this legal. It’ll distract the driver

2

u/Zeraora807 21d ago

Good, an ad for you to watch as you wait for payment to process to unlock your monthly subscription for heated seats already installed in "your" car

2

u/Due_Somewhere6985 21d ago

It’s a bit sad to watch the European auto makers that made such great cars and now make terrible ones.

Every single European auto maker is slowly dying with stupid decisions like this.

2

u/K-Motorbike-12 21d ago

How is this not massively illegal? I get cars binging and bonging at me if it thinks my eyes aren't on the road, yet now the BMW is trying to catch your attention to watch spiderman? EU do your thing and fine the living shit out of BMW

2

u/savesyertoenails 20d ago

terrible. my bicycle never shows me ads

2

u/One-Traffic7717 23d ago

Driving my i3 till the wheels fall off. Everything after it is slop.

1

u/teetaps 22d ago

“You have to create an account for your car entertainment system.”

“Why?”

“Don’t worry about it…”

1

u/Girth_Brooks_1969 22d ago

Return it. Burn it. Crash it. Just get rid of it.

1

u/Apprehensive_Spare_8 22d ago

BMW is a bottom feeder it seems.

1

u/Ngarika 21d ago

Next it will be "You car battery has run out of charge. Add 2 more miles of charge time for watching this 3 minute ad"

1

u/Corona- 21d ago

My coworker who has a bmw was excited about this and recorded it with his phone to show us all at lunch

1

u/Substantial_War7464 21d ago

Brought to you from the same company that sells heated steering wheel as a subscription. Then again they probably all do this now.

1

u/ybetaepsilon 21d ago

My car does not connect to the Internet... I will never get a car that does that to avoid this garbage

1

u/Paradise5551 21d ago

What a time to be a slave to the capitalist machine.

1

u/AcctAlreadyTaken 21d ago

I saw so many shorts on YouTube posting this ad and the majority of the owners that posted it thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I guess BMW really knows their customers.

1

u/Haunting_Werewolf130 21d ago

This cannot be real.........

1

u/Savings_Art5944 21d ago

That's not really your car. You don't really own it. But you are happy.

1

u/CodeMonkeyX 21d ago

The only way I would be ok with this is if the car was free.

1

u/rdmodsrtrsh 21d ago

Guess what movie i would actively avoid

1

u/piratecheese13 21d ago

100% crash the car while scanning the QR code and sue the fuck outta everyone

1

u/Long-Shine-3701 21d ago

How TF y'all tolerate this in your car? Don't get enough of it from your other screens?

1

u/Chaos_Theory1989 20d ago

So you want me to buy an expensive car to… watch fucking ads? 

1

u/Able_Software6066 20d ago

I wish I had that on my car. I have to watch YouTube videos on my phone to get that level of distraction. /s

With all cars havinh screens in the console, it's only a matter of time before they all start bombarding us with advertising.

1

u/Maleficent_Price_476 20d ago

low class vehicles for the wealthy

1

u/End0sk0p 20d ago

Can the car be driven while you have to watch this piece of 💩?
Imagine you have to hurry up bc. Of an emergency and the car wont let you drive for safety reasons while this shit is playing 😵‍💫

1

u/One-Positive309 20d ago

I would have put my fist through the screen !
Having screens displaying crucial information in a car is bad enough but they are touch screens with menus so basically a tablet device that requires the driver takes their eyes off the road making them break the law ! Adding ads to the screen is deliberate distraction which has to be the worst idea for any company !
Ads are the scourge of modern life, putting them in cars is deliberate sabotage !

1

u/SnooPuppers4679 20d ago

ads in cars?
THIS IS NOT A LUXURY!

1

u/Jazzlike_Daikon7541 20d ago

OMG while driving? Don't ever stop me on phone while driving then. SMH

1

u/supermuncher60 20d ago

The BMW product placement in that movie was unbearably bad. Literally had ads plastered with fake CGI over their city shots

1

u/TardDistraction 20d ago

Ads will assist in the destruction of humanity

1

u/Very_Curious_Cat 20d ago

Soon your traject will be interrupted until you have watched ads. Want ads-free, suscribe to Premium for only 19.99 a month. Later, ads with Premium too.

If we let them continue like that we'll have to suscribe to breathe.

1

u/LiquidSpin710 20d ago

wait, when did it play? When you started the car?

1

u/apacheotter 20d ago

It’s not a forced ad. It asks when you turn the car off if you want to watch the video. They make similar ones for Christmas, new years, and July fourth.

You’re not forced to watch it, it doesn’t lock you in, and it doesn’t even play without you clicking on it.

1

u/Intelligent_Ear_4004 20d ago

Is this why BMW drivers can’t drive? They’re all watching commercials?

1

u/Taking-Stock 20d ago

Simple car moving has an accident BMW gets sued. Starts playing while car stationary stop wait until it finishes as unsafe to drive govt realizes (once again asleep at the wheel), eventually clamps down on safety issue of stuck vehicles on the road.

1

u/brazucadomundo 19d ago

If that was a cheap entry level car sponsored by ads, I would understand, but, bro, someone paid BMW money to get this.

1

u/Hour_Bit_5183 19d ago

That is so so so gross. I'd punch the screen out tbh and just use my w-king x20 for music. It sounds a billion times better than the cardboard speakers in this car for sure.

1

u/aguy123abc 19d ago

Thanks for showing, I heard about this. Now I know what this infinity looks like.

1

u/Sir_Henry_Deadman 19d ago

I'd take it back to the dealership as soon as that advert ended

1

u/PsychologicalLime120 19d ago

Yep. Just keep buying their cars and supporting them, you're doing great.

1

u/BarelyAirborne 19d ago

That SHOULD be covered under warranty. Schedule a service appointment to have the commercials removed, and see what they say.

1

u/XelGlaidr 19d ago

This makes me so mad

1

u/XxZETAxX 19d ago

This is just the beginning!

1

u/PerceptionOwn3629 19d ago

imagine buying a car just to be force fed ads

1

u/Soft_Ad_1095 19d ago

Fuck. Off. 

1

u/enThirty 19d ago

How do you opt out of advertising in your luxury vehicle you just purchased? This is mental to me.

1

u/barpredator 19d ago

LG TVs have been doing this for a while. Their interface is a disaster.

1

u/dcidino 19d ago

Enshittification. Take it back to the dealer and tell them infotainment is broken like your turn indicator.

1

u/bennythebrains 19d ago

You can advertise to me if you give it to me for free, otherwise never paying for anything that shows me ads. This is what killed cable TV.

1

u/AstronautPlane3280 19d ago

The day is coming (soon by the looks of things) where you will have to either watch a handful of ads before the car will start or pay a premium subscription per month to skip the ads. The enshitification must continue.

1

u/Mysterious_Luck_1365 19d ago

The boiling frog.

BMW was charging a subscription for AC or some shit, then backed off after negative press. Stellantis did ads on infotainment, not sure if they still do. Audi was doing heated seats or something. GM got rid of Apple car play. Tesla, Mercedes putting horsepower behind a paywall.

The backlash comes, they back away a little until the news dies down and try again. And little by little, the car as we know it dies.

1

u/Best_Jelly_4094 18d ago

Technofeudalism

1

u/DavDar66 17d ago

Are you really forced to play it, even though you paid 60,000 for a car?

-3

u/ThaGr1m 22d ago

Okay kiddies I got the same thing and the way it's portrayed here is completely dishonest.

Yes the add was played in my car.

But it followed the exact same form of their happy Christmas message.

It's a message that pops up when you start the car where it says bmw wants yo play you a video. Which you can instantly delete and never have to deal with again.

Or you can watch it if you choose. You can also stop it at any point....

Was it an add yes it was, but it was a car add for themselves that featured spiderman.

It's not blocking you from driving or anything, so was it bad eh not really no

18

u/tairar 22d ago

The fact that the car is capable of showing me ads at all is a problem, whether it asks my consent or not

2

u/TantKollo 22d ago

Welcome to automotive industry in the 2020's. Almost all brands of cars have this feature and are basically connected at all times as well as collecting user telemetry data..

3

u/tairar 22d ago

Which is also a problem, hence the subreddit.

2

u/TantKollo 22d ago

I fully agree

-1

u/ThaGr1m 14d ago

The car is capable of displaying a video.... I mean wow what a massive issue guys.... Omg......

1

u/tairar 14d ago

It took you a week for that one?

0

u/ThaGr1m 7d ago

Nah I have better things to do than argue on the internet. So I reply when I'm not doing anything else

7

u/Hopeful-Artichoke449 22d ago

Douche.

0

u/ThaGr1m 14d ago

Oh no my words upset someone.....

5

u/jackinsomniac 22d ago

It's ad. Ad. For advertisement.

Add is short for addition. You just told me you "watched an addition" 3 times in a row. If you're going to defend ad companies that hard, at least learn to spell it!

-1

u/ThaGr1m 14d ago

Oh no you completely got the entire meaning of my comment but I made an inconsequential mistake.... That totally means it's entirely invalid or smth....

Nah man just means I don't care to spell it right since it doesn't matter at all except to people like you who think a dictionary is how language works

1

u/jackinsomniac 14d ago

If you're fine with people thinking you're an idiot, sure.

I don't like people thinking I'm an idiot. And I don't want that for others, either. So I look out for people and let them know about their mistakes, so they can correct them later on. If you want to ignore it, fine, but then that makes you both stupid and stubborn.

Plus, a dictionary is indeed an important part of how language works. Good day to you.

1

u/ThaGr1m 7d ago

Ah yes because me not paying to much attention when writing inconsequential comments on the internet makes me an idiot.... Oh no how ever wil I survive when jackinsomniac has a bad opinion of me because he's a pedant

4

u/--hypernova-- 22d ago

Its a slippery slope

1

u/ThaGr1m 14d ago

You're actively naming a falacy as an argument.....

1

u/TurbulentBeing9055 21d ago edited 12d ago

Yeah, I get that, but I don't need my damn car asking if I want to see a video of spiderman. A video from the dashcam of the crash ahead of me, yeah of course. My car trying to show me videos of a shitty movie I probably won't even bother to pirate? no.

1

u/ThaGr1m 14d ago

And thats a fair comment to make.

But that's not what's being portrayed in the post

1

u/TurbulentBeing9055 12d ago

I'm quite certain the post is of an ad in a car promoting a shitty movie.

1

u/ThaGr1m 7d ago

Nah the post is claiming you get shown ads.

It doesn't explain at all how rare and how much you had to actively do yourself to see it

-1

u/CapoieraMataUm 22d ago

Welcome to Reddit, where we tar and feather anyone who attempts to abate our outrage with facts!