BMW’s art of hooning – watchdog bans ad!

By David Twomey | June 29th, 2009

BMW has ended up in hot water over its latest artistic endeavours after Australia’s advertising watchdog deemed its TV ad showing a Z4 sport car creating a painting could encourage hoon driving.

The standards authority outlawed the ad for the new BMW Z4 Roadster because the driving stunts shown would break Australian road laws if they were performed on a public road.

The TV and print ad campaign features the Z4 creating a giant artwork in a warehouse by driving with painted tyres, and includes the vehicle spinning its wheels and skidding.

It was the work of artist Robin Rhode and famed Hollywood film director Ridley Scott’s son, Jake.

The ad, which has been shown around the world, was banned on the basis that it depicted illegal driving, after viewers complained to the Advertising Standards Bureau that it “would encourage car hoons to spin and burn their tyres.”

The bureau said in its judgement that “ the board noted that the advertisement does depict in a number of places the driver intentionally allowing the wheels of the car to lose traction and perform . . . a four-wheel drift.”

BMW defended the advertisement as art and said, “We believe the audience can distinguish between fantasy and reality.”

BMW spokesman Toni Andreevski told CarAdvice the company accepted the decision but believed it could have successfully appealed.

“It is a bit of a case of a piece of art and the freedom of art being thwarted by Victoria’s anti-hoon laws,” he said.

He said the artwork had been cut into pieces after it was created and distributed around the world, including Australia where four pieces of it hang in the entrance foyer to the BMW Australia headquarters.

“It is a shame that artistic expression would be caught by a quirk in the legislation. Safety is important to us, and we have agreed not to appeal.”

Mr Andreevski said the company was disappointed it had been branded for hoon driving, especially as it operated one of the longest-running driver training schemes in Australia and had been responsible for improving the driving standards of thousands of motorists.

Tell us what you think, and take a look at the advertisement here:

http://www.bmw.com.au/com/en/newvehicles/z4/z4/2009/introduction.html

Luke

I’ve just watched the ad. It is so inoffensive and subtle in its execution and I am struggling to find a correlation between it and ‘hoon driving’.

Its frustrating that we get treated like zombies incapable of differing between fantasy and reality.

Also, since when did ‘hoons’ drive BMWs?
Doug

Sad.
Simon

I think this is crazy soon they won’t be able to show a car moving.

Given the awful weekend we’ve had on the roads here in Vic here’s an idea. Rather than banning ads how about sepnding some time on proper driver training and licencing for P platers so they learn control and respect for the their car.
Allergic to nuts etc{}{}

Whomever banned this ad needs sending overseas in a leaking boat ASAP
For goodness sake where oh where does it end.
Why dont we simply ban cars alltogether, then there will be no deaths from cars.
While we’re at it ban electricity,gas,coal,rockets,nuts,wheat,dust,buildings, and on and on and on.
Long live bubble wrap and cotton wool.

Oh no, you could swallow cotton wool and die !!!!!!!!

I think this ad is really clever and great.

BAN THE BANNERS !?
Alan

Typical, government nowadays is so bent on making our life as dull as possible by banning any bit of joy in life. When will the fun police acting on behalf on political correctness and saving lives stop ruining our lives.
Ben N

yeah… super gay.
Toxic_Horse

What about the yaris add when the yaris is driven off a aircraft carrier.

I am pretty sure it is illigal to drive off a aircraft carrier in austrlia.
Alex

How dare they! That’s a brilliant ad and the car is going at about five kilometers an hour! Can’t art just be art without encouraging hoon drivers? I don’t see that it would anyway.
Pat E

Lol @ Toxic Horse, nice one

“Because it could be illegal if it was done on public roads” ???????

So the next time i see the Honda Euro ad and the car is driving on a racing line on a race track, should it be banned because i may do that on the street too?

Wake up people – the BMW ad is more a clever art show than an instance of “Hooning”

I think i need a lie down after that rubbish…
Brett

Tell you what I think? I’d just be preaching to the choir, CarAdvice! Assuming everyone who visits this website is a car enthusiast with half a brain nobody will find this ad offensive. And even if they were offended, so what? I’m offended by lots of things, but I don’t ask for them to be removed from the public forum. Who cares if this offends a super tiny minority? Tell them to suck it up and keep their feelings to themselves. They get no sympathy from me.
Great ad, BMW.
jimmy james

“The ad, which has been shown around the world, was banned on the basis that it depicted illegal driving, after viewers complained to the Advertising Standards Bureau that it “would encourage car hoons to spin and burn their tyres.””

How many people complained?
I bet the ABS will NEVER divulge that information.

Why?

Because nobody complained except the Motor Accident Commission and State and Federal Govt bodies.

If the ABS disputes my claim, show us the number of calls recieved to back it up.

That would then reveal how many people need to complain before ads are pulled from broadcast.

With stuff like this occuring, australia is becoming a very embarrasing place to live…

I mean honestly, kids can watch the most disgusting filth on the internet, but we’re pulling an commercial off the air because it shows a car sliding around to create an artwork.

Shameful.

JJ
Tony

does the ASB know that 10HD plays the American drifting championship and the Australian Precision Driving Team… ‘because the driving stunts shown would break Australian road laws if they were performed on a public road.’
Falcodore

Good one Toxic Horse. There’s also the Yaris add where the bob-sledders are pushing the car and then jump in.

Surely its more dangerous being OUTSIDE a car and trying to jump in while it is moving than being inside a car while it is travelling relatively slowly.

Think i’ll make a complaint about those stupid Yaris adds. Who’s with me?
Blaze

So what about the anti-speeding ads (which show actual hoon-ing? (A la: Speeding: No one thinks big of you – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgV9Oa6z5wY)

I suppose that the people who complained about this ad were probably the same people who complained about Mazda’s “Zoom-Zoom” campaign being “too racy”.

I think it’s a great ad, which combines art and cars.
Jonathan

It just goes to show that this country is full of whingers.
Acfsambo

What about the corolla add with the cats, it does a J-turn. Why wasnt that banned?
Shak

The government is actually undermining the intelligence of the audience by doing this. BMW said it themselves that the audience can tell the difference btw reality and a TV studio.
DesignEng

For those asking, the ASB can ban an add if they recieve just ONE complaint.
There are however some adds that get thousands of complaints yet are not banned.
Frenchie

Damm! I was going to paint the driveway this weekend in my Z.
Tim

Too bad hoons don’t and will never drive BMW’s.
Frenchie

Too bad BMW drivers don’t know how to open a tin of paint!
Golfschwein

This is sad and silly. It was my favourite car ad, and not once did I give any thought to it showing something dangerous.
what the

Did BMW have to agree not to appeal just so the ASB wouldn’t look totally stupid?

overreacting to a fairly sedate ad like this makes the rest of their probably correct decisions lose the impact

australians aren’t dumb enough to go out and try and paint a public road with their cars but we are smart enough to see when a government department is behaving stupidly and wasting tax payers dollars overeacting to justify their fat public servant salaries
nobody

Truth is there are plenty of BMW hoons, mostly drive the models pre-bangle. In fact it seems like hoons stay away from bangle era bmw’s.

What kinda car culture do we have here when people complain about an ad like this. I can’t believe viewers would be bothered to complain about this ad when there are plenty of rubbish ones out there.
Wheelnut

ant drive around in circles in a hangar [like the BMW was] but its okay for you to drive around in a similar fashion on the roof of a 40 storey building like in the Holden Captiva ad.. which would be just as illagal if you drove like that on the road would it not?

Whats more they didn’t ban the BMW “I like the way you move” ad where the car was driving at speed on a racetrack and morphing into other versions of the BMW 3 series sedan

You gotta love the way these academics/beareaucrats think
Jester

Australia is sad, sad, sad country being led by idiots. I bet you money the only person complained was this police loser Ken Lay. World according to Lay -Speed and Hoons are the biggest issues in our life, clearly that is correct ey Mr Lay, you idiot.

BMW ad is great, shame Australia is so sad.
Bavarian Missile™

I wonder what type of car the idiot drives that banned this add !
Jimmy

What a joke. Talk about taking something out of context. It didn’t even cross my mind that the car was “hooning” or “drifting” when I saw this commercial. I took it as art, I believe the ad is designed to accentuate the cars exterior design and presence more than anything. It is so tame. I actually work in advertising and this is the lamest precedent the ASB has ever set. I seem to remember a Holden ad a few years ago which featured a ute doing such a big burnout it created its own tornado… was that banned? Nope.
MisterTwo

What next? Ban Top Gear for showing powerslides, drag races etc. Political correctness gone mad. Whoever banned this needs shooting. No common sense whatsoever.
Vince

This country is run by a bunch of killjoy, goody two shoe, old, out of date crybabies.
Baji

oh great. just great. I actually really liked this ad, and i thought it was brilliantly executed. Shame on those who complained. Like someone else has said, all these stupid complaints have led to creative and exciting car advertising like mazda’s zoom zoom campaign to be removed. Now we have to sit through plain boring vanilla ads (e.g. holden ads) because a little bit of wheel spin isn’t allowed. And how about the Hyundai Santa Fe ad a while ago? that was a very nicely done ad, that was banned because of a complaint that it encouraged toddlers to drive!!. stupid politics.
Reckless1

Damn – when I saw the ad, I immediately went out and stole a BMW and a lot of paint, just so I could paint the road.

I had to steal the items because I didn’t have enough paint in the shed, and I don’t own a BMW.

I tried so hard to resist the power of the advertising, but, I’m sure you will all feel for me when I say I was too weak. I am, after all, quite the normal Aussie who cannot be helped in such a situation.

I just wish they would stop showing all the F1 races, the Moto GP, TG AU (damn, especially that crap) because I have to be strapped to my chair for days till the craving for replicating their feats passes…..
Owen

This ad has been on SBS for many weeks now, and nobody complained until now? I abhor hooning and anything associated with anti social road behaviour where other users are at risk, but I have seen nothing at all to connect this driving behaviour with that of real life. It’s art, that’s all, just art. God, we’ll look really stupid to international eyes if this news gets out.
Will

Good grief. Too many half witted bureaucrats being paid too much and too much time on their hands.

Where is the Australian equivalent of the gulag?
http://www.tuneyoursaab.com Tony

Just another piece of the creeping political correctness occuring in Australia. A further dumbing down of the Australian public….roll on 1984 and big brother.
DesignEng

If you want to slag them off, then here they are:

http://www.adstandards.com.au/pages/page15.asp

I don’t agree with many (including this one) of their decisions, but visit the site and maybe be a little better informed.
http://Caradvice Alex II

I am speechless, could there be anything more stupid.

We as tax payers keep these idiots in jobs.
Hmm…

Why don’t we just ban V8 Supercars from TV while we’re at it because it encourages speeding? Seriously, some people need a reality check…

What’s next? a rating system for each ad before it is played; “The following ad is rated CS – you need Common Sense before watching it.”
Hmm…

PS. Sorry to generalise, but it makes perfect sense, The Board members look like they\’re all Arts students (no offense to Arts students on here).
DesignEng

No bureaucrats – board members who applied for the advertised part-time gig.

No taxpayer funding – The advertising industry is self-regulating, and the regulatory board is funded by a self imposed levy.

Be more informed people!

BTW Jimmy, the Holden ute cyclone ad WAS taken off the air.
Mitch

all of this Dulux has made an aweful mess of my executive… *scrub scrub scrub*
Minnow

This advert is brilliant, it really puts BMW’s slogan into a literal sense.. The Art of Driving. The ad was even in a controlled environment in an aircraft hanger. If it was a Holden ute the slogan would be “Holden Ute – The Smell of Rubber” with a pile of tyres burning in the background or “Toyota Camry – Road Scenery”.

Agreed Toxic Horse. Lets get a bunch of people to complain to the TV tyrant about the Toyota Yaris add by saying it gives suicidal people an idea on how to kill themselves by driving off a cliff/wall/over a bridge or aircraft carrier just like the reason why train suicides arent reported on tv. Anyone who dreams of purchasing a Yaris seriously has issues. And the Landcruiser racing through the desert, why wasnt that banned due to dangerous careless cowboys driving through the dessert that may result in death.

There must be some lobby of communist dictatorist smoking albino evil french mob that was watching this BMW advert.. Pathetic
John of Perth

Nanny is alive and well.

I think we should the bunch of these nannies in a plane and throw them out (parachutes optional – apologies to Transformers-Revenge of the Fallen).
riceboy

Thanks, DesignEng. I have logged onto:

http://www.adstandards.com.au/pages/page15.asp

and lodged my complaint about the ad being banned.

You should all get on and complain about the banning of the ad. Agree with the rest of you… ring up and complain about every other ad too!
http://carz.com/ Carz

This news is depressing. Ad is great and doesn’t connote any hooning. BMW is such a great car and exudes sophistication and luxury, labeling it as hoon driving is just not BMW.
“james”

This is going to sound slack but here goes:

I can’t wait for the older generation of whinging older people to finally kick the bucket and stop whinging about stupid shit like this. This is such a typical response from Protestant Australians who grew up in the “meat and three veg” type Australia, when everything that was different was offensive, everything that was new was a danger, and all that was spicy was “ethnic”

Like CarAdvice said in their full throttle2 article Europe in general (especially Germany) have a different attitude to cars and speed, it’s much more mature, and void of knee jerk beurocratic responses.
http://www.checkwebhosting.com Neutral

one of my favourite ads just got pulled off air. SAD.
“james”

aww yeah by the way, the dude on the board of the ads review is the “no bingooo!” guy, he’s a media attention seeking whore. He’s probably on the board purely to build his CV. a typical board room ladder climber who will say and do anything for exposure.

he writes on the social comentary/political website Eureka Street or New Matilda..one of these two, forgot which one.
Rongway

Complain about this not just to the Advertising Standards Bureau but also to your local and federal member. Nothing will be done unless the message gets through to those that make the rules that they are making dumb rules.

“James”, us oldies grew up doing things so stupid in cars so decrepit and dangerous that they wouldn’t be considered safe enough to be a shopping trolley today. Don’t tar us all with the same brush, we think you young ‘uns are cushioned and soft, with 500kg of safety gear built into every car these days.
johnh

Its gotta be HAROLD SCRUBY
Nightshifter

This is ridiculous as it means all forms of motor sports should be banned cos they would encourage unsafe, aggressive driving and speeding etc…
insomniac

Standard issue padded room with every Australian citizenship test passed!
Greg! The stop sign!

Unfortunately, I think it is too late – I just drove past my local abandoned warehouse with the huge blank canvas floor and the impressionable (no pun intended) hoons are going nuts with 50 cans of house paint. They were hitting speeds of at least 6 kph too!
ssbob

…note that there were 3 submissions about this ad to the Advertising Standards people, the first 2 they rejected and the final one upheld. Even sillier?

I commend eveyone to rush out and buy a new Z4 in protest.
david

is it just me or can “hoons” actually afford 2000 onwards bmw’s?
Car-Enthusiast

On the basis of this ad being banned because it can encourage hoon driving. Then why don’t they ban Movies like fast and the furious, TV shows like Top Gear and Car Magazines like Wheels or Motor.

LOL, this is abosolutely ridiculous.

I mean I’m supprised the Government, lets us breathe, eat, drink or say what we want with out banning it once someone swears.

And another thing, if you have the time and effort to write and complain to the advertising watchdog, for a TV advertisement a car manufacturer made to display the abilities of its car(s), in order for them to generate sales and make a LIVING, and you are trying to stop that then you got some serious problems.

Imagine this as an alternative advertisment for the Z4, they show u the exterior, interior and tell u the price. Now would that get u off the couch into the dealership for a testdrive? NO.
insomniac

I shudder to think that in a few years all we will see on tv are soft and fluffy ads for conservative cars with feel good music and cars being driven out of garages with elevator music! bah!!!

I don’t think this ad would promote “hoonish behaviour” any more than driving off an aircraft carrier with a yaris.

Expression, freedoms and freedom of speech are slowly being removed in Australia, and we look increasingly like idiots in the international eye. The banning of this ad is just a very small indicator of an increasing problem in this country – the simple fact is no matter what you do you will ALWAYS offend someone. I just wonder how many more of our civil liberties will be removed or choked before people stand up and say enough is enough.

Hang on, this post might be filtered out by the net censorship regime because its not aligned with the government’s views.
ComradeVodka

All I can say is; WTF!
-
Lighten the hell up, for starters, hoons drive bomby old Commodores and Falcons, NOT brand new BMW Z4′s. This video was shot in a closed location, not on the open road where they could possible injure people.
-
If they have banned this, then they should ban those horrible ‘Fast and Furious’ movies too.
-
What a Joke. This lousy country just gets better and better…
o

I woul love to meet the viewers who complained about this ad best guesses are they all drive camrys.I wonder why the mazda 6 ad has not been banned as that depicts a racing car
The Realist

Absolutely ridiculous.

Love to know who the maggots were that complained and what they drive / do for a living…