What it had to solve
Give a global Marvel film partnership a canvas across BMW's connected-car fleet; BMW had released seasonal display animations before, but its senior VP had publicly promised the company would not put advertising in its vehicles.
The idea
Turn the car's Control Display into movie media: a banner playing a full-screen animation of Spider-Man swinging around the iX3, with a light show.
How it works
From July 27 to August 10, 2026, drivers of BMWs with Operating System 7 through X (built after July 2020) saw Spider-Man banner ads on starting the car. Tapping one played a full-screen animation of Spider-Man swinging around the electric iX3 with music and a light show; skipping it parked the ad as an app on the infotainment screen for later.
What it did
Owners complained across social media and The Verge called the ads 'villain behavior'; BMW confirmed the campaign was real and part of a broader brand partnership, turning the tie-in into a widely shared case of in-car advertising backlash.
Background
In late July 2026, BMW owners began finding banner ads for the Marvel film Spider-Man: Brand New Day on their cars' Control Display when they started the vehicle. BMW confirmed to The Autopian that the ads were real and part of a broader brand partnership with the new movie.
Per BMW's own announcement, the 'festive animations' ran from July 27 to August 10, 2026 in more than 70 countries, on vehicles equipped with BMW Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9 or X and a production date after July 2020. Tapping the banner played a full-screen animation of Spider-Man swinging around BMW's iX3 electric SUV, complete with music and a light show for cars with ambient lighting; drivers who skipped it found the ad waiting as an app on the infotainment display.
The backlash was immediate. Owners objected to advertising funneled into vehicles they had paid for — especially since BMW Group senior VP Stephan Durach had explicitly said the company would not do so. The Verge noted BMW had released seasonal Halloween and Christmas animations before, but calling movie commercials 'festive' stretched the word, and put BMW alongside Stellantis, which had already pushed pop-up ads into Jeep, Ram and Chrysler displays.
Why it lands
The partnership put a genuinely global canvas — 70-plus countries of connected dashboards — behind one movie launch.
The animation used the car itself: Spider-Man swings around the iX3 and triggers the cabin's ambient lights.
It backfired because the screen sits in a product the owner paid for, and BMW had promised exactly this would not happen.
What you can take
A screen customers paid for is not your ad inventory: partnership reach means nothing when the medium itself feels like a betrayal.
Since then
The Verge likened BMW to Stellantis, the first major carmaker to push pop-up ads to dashboards, and recalled BMW's earlier attempt to charge a monthly subscription for heated seats already installed in its cars; owners kept sharing the ads across social media during the campaign's run.
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