German auto giant BMW has outraged motorists with a controversial ‘bull *** t’ online marketing video that critics say is ridiculing its older core baby boomers and belittling one of the company’s most successful flagships – the classic 7 Series.
It could also hit sales, as motorists say via social media that they took the insults ‘personally’ and will not buy a new BMW.
One of them said, ‘It’s like they really HATE people who own one of their older cars. And by ‘older’ I mean made before 2017. ‘
The offensive video – shot to highlight BMW’s high-tech intelligent ‘iDrive’ system in its new electric iX SUV – has angered and baffled consumers who wondered what the auto giant wants to achieve by undermining its proud heritage with a legendary car which contributed to the company’s success.
It also appears to fuel intergenerational conflict, portraying baby boomers – born from 1946 to 1964 – as an angry, narrow-minded, entrenched generation that doesn’t ‘listen’, and condemns modern ideas as ‘bull *** t’, calling the response to: ‘It’s almost impossible to talk to your generation. ‘
The video was posted on BMW’s website and shared on social media, including Twitter and YouTube, as part of its participation in the high-profile global Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2021) currently taking place online.
But it has been dismissed as delivering a rudely condescending and “ awake ” message that has led some to say on social media that they wouldn’t buy another BMW.
It even prompted an owner to ask if “everyone in the Munich marketing department is hopelessly addicted to crack?”
Critics point out that the history of the baby boom generation – with advancements made since the ‘tolerant’ 1960s in all areas of social, political, cultural and technological life – shows that this picture couldn’t be further from the truth.
Some longtime BMW customers took to social media to proclaim that as a result of such an attitude, they would look elsewhere to buy their next car, with one of them bluntly saying, “We’re out.”
The video clip, designed to promote the latest version of iDrive for use in the upcoming iX electric SUV, was posted on YouTube and BMW’s website and shared on social media
In a statement, BMW from Munich said: ‘This film was made by BMW AG to highlight the evolution of iDrive over the past 20 years, as the next generation system will be unveiled in the spring.
However, this clip is for select global markets and will not run in the UK or US.
However, the statement seems to contradict the facts.
It ignores the fact that BMW used on Twitter is eagerly read around the world and especially in the UK and US.
It also begs the question of why the car characters involved spoke English and with American accents.
It is also contrary to the fact that BMW explicitly mentions on its website and in its posts that the clip is directly related to the Consumer Electronics Show organized in the US.
BMW later confirmed that the offensive video was broadcast on BMW’s global Twitter account – @BMW – run by parent company BMW AG in Munich and accessible to users around the world, including the UK and US.
However, it seemed BMW’s British and American arms wanted to distance themselves from the move, as the video was not released by the local national Twitter accounts – @BMW_UK and @BMWUSA – specifically for customers in these locations.
The feud follows an earlier controversy over BMW in November, when the company’s marketing gurus posted a tweet in response to one person’s criticism of the iX’s styling on YouTube, with the supposed older customers getting small-scale with the jibe ‘OK , boomer ‘- which led to a massive backlash.
Commentators questioned the motive behind the tweet, especially given that baby boomers account for about half of BMW’s sales – especially in the main US market.
Three times the ‘grumpy’ old BMW repeats the same expletive phrase in the fantasy conversation between the two cars
BMW’s latest video promo uses outrageous expletives
In the center of the new row is an online video claiming to show a fantasy argument between two rival BMWs in one of the company’s parking garages: a brand new and recently launched all-electric iX SUV and a historic 2001 petrol engine 7 series limousine. – that bumper to bumper faces each other. Both have American accents.
The implication seems to be that the iX represents the present and the future, while the 7 Series – and its customer base – should be firmly relegated to the past.
As if to reinforce this point, the 7 Series’ voice is portrayed as an older, grizzly, grumpy and capricious man with an old-fashioned, steady and rigid demeanor who only likes’ real cars’, repeatedly dismissing modern technology as ‘bull *** t’, and describes 21st century electric vehicles as ‘toy cars’.
In stark contrast, the iX’s character comes from a young ‘smarter, better’ and seemingly enlightened female voice who refers to the older car as a ‘grandpa’ who ‘sniffed at the gas pump too long’ and uncompromisingly says, ‘Your time is over. ‘
The award-winning BMW 7 Series has been the flagship of the BMW range for decades, loved by captains of industry and successful entrepreneurs, and with armored versions even used by Downing Street and the Metropolitan Police during the Blair years with government and out there.
But anyone who expects a respectful nod to the past is in for a shock.
At one point the female voice iX says to the older man’s car, “Of course you don’t understand. It is almost impossible to talk to your generation. Anyone can talk to me. ‘
She adds, “I am the intelligent personal assistant. Do you know what I mean? Intelligent.’
The older generation’s cranky car can only react angrily with “bull *** t” and “marketing bull *** t”.
The best he can answer is: ‘I can drive very fast’.
The new car then releases more jibes such as ‘you just don’t listen’.
The tone and content of the short film has enraged motorists and BMW customers of all ages – who also claim that the classic BMW 7 Series is at least a much more elegant proposition than the brash new iX with its cartoonish giant grille.
Leading motoring Hilton Holloway, writing for Autocar, the world’s longest-running automobile magazine, said bluntly of BMW: “ The whole ‘old people are obsolete’ is astonishingly stupid. ‘
A Twitter user Matt Robinson asked, ‘WHAT is it trying to convey? That BMW’s new, hideous products are smug bastards? Those are old cars are all GAMMON ?! It’s just awful. And yet I want an E65 760Li. ‘
He added: ‘It’s like they really hate people who have one of their older cars. And by ‘older’ I mean made before 2017. I honestly take this video personally. I was a BMW man for many years. Not anymore.’
He later asked if the reason for the bizarre marketing video was that “everyone in the Munich marketing department is hopelessly addicted to crack?”
Richard Aucock, chairman of the UK’s respected Guild of Motoring Writers, also highlighted BMW’s’ bull *** t ‘video, describing it as’ crazy’, adding, ‘Hoping that some marketing experts correct me and explain why this is actually groundbreaking genius. ‘
Another Twitter user, ‘Bahnstormer Tom’, said: ‘What is BMW up to? You don’t get rid of 760Li and your heritage like that and get away with it. I’ve owned more BMWs than any other brand and I feel like they have completely alienated people like me. I will never buy a new BMW. Strange marketing strategy. That said, it got us talking. ‘
Simon Charlesworth, in a sharp reference to businessman Gerald Ratner – who saw his company go bankrupt after he dismissed the jewelry his firm sold to gullible customers as ‘nonsense’, ‘Even Gerald Ratner would find this incredible’.
Another, Colin Isaac, said, “You wonder if they hired Gerald Ratner as a brand advisor …?”
A critic posted on Twitter the old BMW slogan – ‘The ultimate driving machine’ – illegible and rewritten to read: ‘The ultimate WOKE machine’.
Andy Sherrat wrote: ‘I’m starting to think that Mercedes or Audi are currently paying for social content from BMW. I can’t think of an alternative justification! ‘
Philip Hale, a leading automotive industry, said, “If BMW were a person, you’d be convinced they were in an all-out midlife crisis.”
To which motorist Alan Bradley responded, “If BMW were a person, you’d think they’d spent too much time in the White House.”
Private hire car boss James R. Williams said, “My 14-year-old 760 Li drives beautifully, and he can take me to the south of France at a gas station in a few minutes, the newbie has a long way to go before it can provide that performance. ‘
Ananda Roy said: “After 15 years of owning multiple BMWs – almost all from newly specified to our needs and usually 2/3 cars in the household, we’re gone. It happened organically. I like the driving dynamics, but others have come a long way too, and the interior and exterior design are downright weird. ‘
SAVE MONEY ON MOTORS
Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on it, we can earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and use it for free. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.