When it comes to bringing out enticing commercials that spur you on and make you want to just go out, get in your car and drive, it looks like a very fine balance must be kept. That’s particularly true if we’re to discuss about a recent ban on UK television sets for a BMW xDrive commercial which was only meant to emphasize on the safety the system brings to the table. Apparently, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) decided it portrayed dangerous behavior and had it pulled from TV networks.
Continue Reading Below
According to the ruling, the ASA claims that “the demonstration of the capability of the xDrive system condoned faster, dangerous and irresponsible driving… presented in the context of excitement”. One particular shot which drew their attention was the BMW X5 going through the woods or “appearing to skid on a dirt trail”, an instance deemed too dangerous by the ruling authority from the UK.
If you know anything about BMW X5 owners, you probably already know that the chances of an SAV actually doing that sort of thing are slim to none. Nevertheless, the ASA apparently wouldn’t hear BMW’s plea, which said that the car was just showing “a slight reduction in traction” and wasn’t to be perceived as dangerous in any given context. To make thing even more interesting, it looks like only one person of the 9.3 million viewers complained about the ad and it was seemingly enough.
The ad is posted below and you can very well check for yourselves if it seems like it is breaching the advertising codes en force in the UK. According to the ruling, the BMW xDrive ad broke three of them, encouraging “dangerous, competitive, inconsiderate or irresponsible driving” and demonstrating “power, acceleration or handling characteristics except in a clear context of safety”.
LMAO
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
I saw it on TV loads thought it was a good advert especially to show them people in the UK that always say “bmws getstuck in snow bla bla” and this advert proved them wrong. ASA are weridos
Well, it doesn’t actually prove anything, though. But BMWs aren’t bad in the winter. Bad tires are. I have a rear wheel drive BMW and drive past people in the winter because I have good tires and certain people don’t.
ya UK people didnt understand its just the tires
Yup. Either way, it’s embarrassing how the commercial is banned in the UK. It’s so stupid I can’t contain myself.
BMWs are bad year round. The 3 and 4 series has the top three highest recall rate of any luxury mid size vehicle. Mercedes c class leads in first place for recalls.
1) The point went right over your head. Tires are a lot more important than anything else on a car. AWD doesn’t help one bit if your tires aren’t good. Any car with good tires will leave a good AWD with bad tires behind in winter conditions.
2) Recall rate is irrelevant, I did not say anything about that.
3) Since you like anecdotes so much, my BMW i3 (not a fossil car) has been incredibly solid with no issues and other owners I’ve spoken to say the same. The battery especially has statistically held up very well with limited degradation. The battery longevity is on-par or better than Tesla’s (which is a leading company when it comes to battery longevity).
What a funny world, countries that pretend to believe in freedom of speech, banned BMW for a simple commercial, but don’t ban Muslims saying death to America.
Political correctness. It’ll become worse, mark my words. In Asia they use cameras and facial recognition to fine and publically shame jaywalkers by family name. Like I said in the past, it’ll go further. People don’t think tomorrow, they think today and only sometimes yesterday – if they think at all. It’s a major flaw.
This is one example of how they’ll police what people say and do. They already do to a large extent. People take freedom, freedom of speech and privacy for granted.
LMAOOOOO what’s asa smoking
For me it looks normal.
Man. More evidence of the UK circling the toilet drain.
This is ridiculous. Embarrassing, actually. ASA can go **** a ****.
Excitement… We can’t have that!!! Ban!!!