683
BMW Is Showing Full-Screen Ads on Its Cars' Main Dashboard Control Display
(consumerrights.wiki)
Well we need to ban that
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
683 points (99.0% liked)
Technology
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There's something about watching a luxury import brand fast-track enshitification faster than everyone else, including economy options.
BMW's are pretty fast :P /s
Well, they're BMW drivers, so I don't feel too bad for them.
Disturbing trend, though.
Maybe now people will stop thinking they’re a premium brand.
Has anyone actually seen these ads in the BMW, as described?
This article seems fishy to me. Especially this part:
The ad has been available in more than 70 markets since July 27, 2026, scheduled to run through August 10, 2026, on any suitably equipped BMW running Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or OS X built after July 2020.
“System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or OS X” are exact versions of MacOS, dating back to 1991. Why would BMW’s software versioning match Apple’s exactly? I mean it could be a coincidence, but it’s weird. Especially “OS X.”
Not that I’d put it past any car manufacturer to do this, capitalism gonna capitalize. But I thought the EU was more obnoxious about controlling/preventing things like this. Or does BMW get a pass since they’re a European brand?
Bro, it just ain't capitalism that's gunna capitalize. Every first grader learning about capital letters, bro. They know that shit. Ms Barry didn't teach me shit. She got guano for brains. That's what my dad taught me. He got five on the inside so racks don't crack within you, like Captain Kong Country Club shit you see that it wrote that for me. That's a clue. It's siphoning me. Can't see. Gone back to tuna. Fuck . Its deli eating. Firgot. The shake of quake hungrasn. Go god go
BMW iDrive has versions 1 to 9, and now the newest really is OS X.
Yeah I read that now too. I just thought that it was weird that they went from “System 7…” up to “OS X” just like Apple did. But it’s just very plausible coincidence.
"Death" in mandarin is "Si". "4" is also "si", so it is considered a very unlucky number and nobody wants it in their phone number and other stuff.
"10" is "shi" which is close enough to "Si" that many people don't like it and will avoid it.
One of the article's sources has a link to this Reddit thread (view it on RedLib), which has someone recording the ad. The article also uses official BMW websites as sources.
P.S. that was a very boring ad
Thanks, a reply in that thread:
This just showed up and no way to avoid it?
OP:
No, I got the option whether I wanted to view it when starting the car. And it’s added as an app in case you want to view it later.
Don't talk shit about total, bro they see this
So I have now seen it . It did not pop up, I had to go into apps and find the spider man app and click on it.
Pretty stupid waste of time, but not on startup or anything.
I went to the first source of the article that is mentioned
So what this means BMW is partnering with Disney for spiderman.
As far as I understand it the spiderman animation is not presented in a disturbing way and rather something one can access when they want to.
So yes it is an ad but also not yet intrusive advertisement that disturbs the usage.
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Fuck capitalism and all of the sneaky and invasive ways they try to sell you shit. Advertising is now like a cancer that interferes with simply living a life.
It's funny how much of a joke the German car brands have become.
VW shoving touch controls down our throats, BMW selling their cars after they've been already sold, Audi and Mercedes sticking fake exhausts on their $70k cars, and all of them just desperately catering to the Chinese market while simultaneously not getting EVs...
Not to mention that in the wake of VW being caught red-handed with fraudulent software to evade emission regulations, BMW had to quickly get their (very similar) hack out there. Which, of course, was done so incredibly poorly that nowadays, several types of modern BMWs are liable to just explode into a fireball. Seemingly out of nowhere.
At least when they do explode they don't then also trap the occupants like Teslas do but still, plenty of stories of bmws in Europe just bursting into flames.
To be fair, the Germans weren't the only ones cheating emissions tests. As far as I've heard, Harley-Davidson used special tunes on their bikes to pass emissions testing. Never heard of BMWs just randomly bursting into flames, though, gotta look into that.
I don't know about US car makers, but I can imagine them having done similar stuff
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Best advertisement for chinese cars. Not that they needed one...
Embarrassing for BMW.
I hope they don't act surprised when cheap Chinese cars without all that crap devour their market share.
That only delays the problem, doesn't fix it, sadly. Chinese firms understand capitalism better than the west imo, so once they have a large market share, they will likely pull off the same shit. Still, for now, they are probably the better option.
For me, personally, I am trying to keep my 300 thousand km car alive :)
Cheap chinese car, yes, without all the crap, you wish. They are all capitalist and learn from each other. Remember the door handle shit? It's very much everywhere in chinese car to the point their government have to regulate the shit out of it. Chinese car maker want to export their car so bad because they can exploit without limit.
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They will just be kept out of the market in the US. Oligarchs gonna oligarchy.
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LMAO. LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. AAAAH FUCKCARS is gonna have a fun time with this one gang. Aaah shit man.
Imagine paying the kind of prices that car manufactures demand, and then they shove ads in your face on your own property. I would drive it back to the dealership & demand a refund.
You can probably have an ad-free system for a monthly subscription.
Wankers.
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Wow, maybe bring it back to the dealership and tell them the car is broken, and insist on them fixing it or ask for a full refund.
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Remember when they tried to make you rent the heated seats you already have?
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But they said if we pay, we are not the product...
Was the BMW free? It must have been.
Well, what they actually say is if you don't pay you're the product. They never said anything about what happens if you pay
trashy cars pretending to be a luxury brand
All those electric car owners missing out on the gas station pump ads can finally feel included.
Is that a US thing only? Cos I haven't seen this crap here in germany, fortunately.
Oh you are missing out mate. I can't even imagine the stress of just standing there pumping alone with my own thoughts. After I park and watch a brief ad on my bmw screen I can immediately turn my attention to the screen on the pump telling me about a new color of mountain Dew that I simply must try. Pure bliss. God bless America.
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You have to watch the commercial before you can access the turn signals, right?
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