U2, BMW? Carmaker's intrusive movie promo 'update' recalls Apple's Bono bungle: 'This is crossing the line'



BMW is assuring its drivers that the company is not pushing ads on them.

Drivers of 2020 BMWs and beyond may have a different take, because since the end of July, there has been a sponsored feature available to them without asking for it.

'I hate this so much.'

Not an ad

To celebrate "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," the next flick in the seemingly unending franchise, BMW introduced "a special surprise" for its drivers: an ad.

That's not how BMW sees it, though. Though the short video features a new BMW model, shows Spider-Man on the side of a nearby building, and tells viewers the movie is exclusively in theaters, BMW assures its customers that what they are seeing is not an advertisement.

The animation is "designed to provide customers with optional themed animations and messages linked to a range of global and local occasions," BMW told Business Insider. "It is not a form of advertising."

However, the "animation" doesn't require the user to do any searching to find it. According to BMW's own press release, simply starting the car brings up a "special banner" on the display, which can be clicked on to start the video.

"This is crossing the line," one BMW driver said while showcasing the video.

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At the drive-in

Not all BMW owners will have to suffer through their friendly neighborhood superhero's appearance, though. Only those driving models capable of forced updates will see the video.

BMW says any of its cars equipped with BMW Operating System 7, 8, 8.5, 9, or BMW Operating System X will see the updates so long as they were produced after July 2020.

Moreover, BMW told website the Autopian that the in-vehicle animation is part of "a broader brand partnership with the film."

"A few of our vehicles — including the BMW iX3 — were in the film, and a special edition iX3 was featured on the red carpet during last night's premiere in Los Angeles," the carmaker added.

Author Jason Torchinsky went on to say, "No one needs to have this shoved at them in their cars."

"I hate this so much. Maybe beyond rationality," he wrote.

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A 2020 BMW 3. Manfred Schmid/Getty Images

Bono bungle

The forced injection of media is reminiscent of the great U2/iTunes fiasco of 2014.

U2 frontman Bono (Paul David Hewson) apologized to iTunes users at the time after his album "Songs of Innocence" was forcibly downloaded onto their iPhones and iPods.

"Oops, I'm sorry about that," Bono said, per the Guardian.

The singer barely offered any regret, chalking the move up to an attempt to parse through media "noise."

"I had this beautiful idea, and we kind of got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard. There's a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."

The "Songs of Innocence" album went on to become one of U2's worst-selling albums.

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The Market Is TOO Confident About Michigan
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The Market Is TOO Confident About Michigan

REVIEW: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’

It's now unquestionable: Spider-Man is the most popular character in the history of pop culture. Peter Parker and his adventures have resulted in the sale of more than 360 million comic books since his creation in 1962. In 2002, the original Spider-Man picture with Tobey Maguire was the first movie to make $100 million in its first weekend in America. Brand New Day, the fourth to star Tom Holland since Homecoming in 2017, followed in the original's footsteps by setting the all-time domestic weekend record with $360 million.

The post REVIEW: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ appeared first on .

The DC-Marvel Universe: How the Greatest Comic Collab Came Together

"It wasn't easy, but enthusiasm can move mountains," wrote Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee in his introduction to Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. "Comics," agreed Carmine Infantino, head honcho at DC, "may in this one momentous undertaking prove détente can be more than theory."

The post The DC-Marvel Universe: How the Greatest Comic Collab Came Together appeared first on .

Spider-Man comic featuring 'queer' trans-anarchist villains promoted to children for Pride Month



A free comic book promoted by Marvel for Pride Month featured multiple messages about gender and sexuality while being targeted at children 13 years old and up.

As part of an initiative for inclusivity, Marvel sent out free issues of its "Marvel Voices" comic to distributors for Free Comic Book Day.

The gender and sexuality-driven issue was targeted at teens and also had dedicated pages regarding black and "indigenous" stories and creators.

After a Bollywood-themed Spider-Man and a female hero named Spider-Gwen, a glowing Spider-Man took on a rather interesting foe.

The comic showed a group of thugs ransacking the Stark pharmaceutical company, as the leader of the gang is shown to be a "trans woman" named Peach.

"Peach. Leader of the Commune. Trans woman. Hacker. Yorkie enthusiast. Currently really frustrated," the comic read.

After the group realized there are only needles and syringes remaining, the transgender leader decided it was time to leave before the security system came back online.

As Spider-Man arrived, it is then revealed that the group is actually a cohabitating consortium of queer anarchists that see themselves as working-class heroes.

"The Commune. A Robin-Hood-esque, queer, human, anarchist crew who live and work together."

In addition to the juxtaposition of a transgender person stealing from a pharmaceutical stock room, Spider-Man himself also pointed out that the female-identifying man isn't able to partake in discourse.

"Back off. Spidey! We aren't hurting anyone, and we don't wanna start with you," the criminal said.

"Come oooon. Trespassing and theft are easy-peasy, but you can't handle a friendly conversation," Spider-Man replied.

'There is no specific race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, religious or planetary-origin requirement to being a hero.'

The comic book is riddled with incessant ideological messaging, including a full-page spread about diverse superheroes. Author Angelique Roche wrote that since the 1960s, the Marvel team has "evolved to reflect the world around us."

"Our heroes and their stories provided proof of what we have always known: that there is no specific race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic, religious or planetary-origin requirement to being a hero," she wrote.

Roche has described herself on her website as a former congressional staffer, and she was also a campaign manager for Democrat Nina Turner. Turner was an Ohio state senator from 2008-2014 before she ran for Ohio's secretary of state, losing to Republican Jon Husted. Roche managed Turner's campaign for that race.

That Park Place editor John F. Trent described the comic as an attempt to corrupt children and lead them into despair.

"On a storytelling level, they are priming their alternative universes with these characters so they can then bring them into the main universe to supplant their other characters like Captain America, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Thor," he said.

The Pride comic is almost entirely made up of alternate timelines. Examples included "Earth-65" for the female Spider-Man character and "Earth-50101" that featured an Indian Spider-Man acting in a Bollywood film.

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Make no mistake – 'Spider-Man' has gone WOKE



The entertainment industry as a whole has been taken over by progressive activists. Unfortunately, Marvel and Sony are two of the conglomerates that have gone woke (and lost a good portion of their audiences because of it).

For example, the companies have taken the "Spider-Man" chronicles down a path of virtue-signaling and DEI initiatives.

“Spider-Man sadly has fallen prey to these woke zombies,” sighs Lauren Chen, “and I guess one of the biggest red flags for fans of 'Spider-Man' was the replacement of Peter Parker with Miles Morales.”

“A character simply being mixed race or not white is not in of itself a political statement,” she continues, “unless of course the creators of the character explicitly state that it is, which is exactly what happened.”

Radar Online reported that “Marvel Comics editor and chief Axel Alonso said Miles Morales, the half black, half Hispanic heir apparent to the late Peter Parker in the timeless Spider-Man comic book series, was partially inspired by President Barack Obama.”

Further, the artist who created the character Miles Morales revealed that “the new character’s multicultural background could lead to more revelations in the future — including Spidey’s sexuality.”

Fans are upset that Marvel is clearly “trying to diversity-wash Spider-Man,” says Lauren.

But that’s not the only “wokeness infecting the 'Spider-Man' franchise.”

“Unfortunately, yet predictably, wokeness in the creation of Miles Morales as a character has also led to wokeness in Miles Morales games and comics,” Lauren explains.

The action-adventure video game starring Miles Morales that Sony dropped in 2020 was “filled with just outright political propaganda.”

For example, the game features a flashy in-game mural paying homage to Black Lives Matter, “and when you knock out all the quests, you receive the Uptown Pride suit, which is black and yellow — the colors associated with Black Lives Matter,” reports Gamespot.

But it’s not just racial politics at play in the "Spider-Man" franchise; it’s infused with gender ideology as well.

One of the side quests in the 2020 game revolves around helping “a male classmate propose to another male classmate,” explains Lauren, while in the "Spider-Man 2" video game, which was just recently released, “we have lesbian Black Cat.”

But it doesn’t end there. From a less attractive Mary Jane to butchering the Spanish language to avoid triggering the non-binary community, it’s clear "Spider-Man" has gone down a progressive path from which it may never recover.


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New York bullies bust a boy's nose after allegedly luring him to park in his Spider-Man costume



A 15-year-old boy from Hudson Falls, New York, was reportedly lured by bullies in his Spider-Man costume to a local park, where he was savagely attacked and left with a broken nose.

Footage of the attack has emerged online, showing middle schooler Aydin Pedone dressed as the iconic costumed hero, fielding insults and jeers from passersby.

One classmate can be heard asking whether Pedone's "spider sense" is "tingling."

Amid the insults, a girl in red approaches Pedone, winds up and attempts to hit him in the face with an open-handed strike. While Pedone deftly dodges his attacker's first attempt, she lands her second with a crack.

Pedone staggers back, holding himself up by a metal gate, as the girl strides away, laughing. He ultimately yanks off his mask, revealing a bloody mess of a nose. Though wounded, he did not reciprocate with violence.

The Hudson Falls Police Department confirmed in a statement that around 4:30 p.m. on June 21, the boy was struck in the face by a 14-year-old girl and "sustained significant injury to his nose, which will require further medical intervention."

The 14-year-old girl was later arrested and charged with one count of assault in the second degree, a class D felony. She will appear at the Washington County Probation Department at a later date.

The boy's mother, Shellie Pedone, noted that his affinity for the Marvel character has elicited scorn and abuse from other kids, particularly after he started the sixth grade, reported the New York Post.

"My son was attacked for the purpose of bored teenage entertainment, targeted for being different than them, and viciously attacked because of having the courage to stand out from the crowd and be himself," Shellie Pedone, the boy's mother, wrote on Facebook. "He has that kind of heart that only sees the good in people. Is this the kind of kid that deserves to have his nose broken, unprovoked, and witnessed by nearly a dozen peers standing around to watch, record and laugh at him?"

Support has poured in from others in the community who recognize Pedone as a "gentle and loving kid" who had taken to wearing the costume to advocate against bullying at school.

An individual identified as Edward Anthony started a fundraiser for the lad to "show Aydin that he is a true hero," adding, "Aydin is a very kind kid, who loves comics, videos games, and cosplay. He is regularly bullied in school, and this situation is absolutely unacceptable."

The GoFundMe has already raised over $11,455 to send the boy and his family to the Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, where Spider-Man is a featured hero. Additional proceeds will allegedly go toward funding the 15-year-old's martial arts training, such that he'll know how best to respond to the next punch thrown his way.

"I am beyond overjoyed with all that has happened this week," Shellie Pedone wrote on Facebook. "Seeing my son's true spirit shine and fly high while crawling out of such a dark hole is a long overdue dream come true. ... The world can be beautiful, and it extends much farther than within the walls of a toxic school environment. I am beyond grateful for all the positive that has come out of this experience."

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