Jaguar ad banned for ‘glorifying’ dangerous driving
A series of Jaguar marketing videos have been banned by the advertising watchdog, which deemed the ads “irresponsible” because they appeared to glorify dangerous driving.
Video: Banned Jaguar marketing ad
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The videos appeared on Jaguar’s website and featured cars being revved up, soundtracked by high tempo background music, before one vehicle was driven at speed across a mountain road, followed by blurred coloured lines and driving across the single white lines in the middle of the lane.
The spots all ended with on screen text stating “Jaguar, how alive are you” to the sound of an engine revving.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint against the videos, which challenged that the ads were irresponsible because they “glorified speed and encouraged dangerous driving”.
The ad watchdog said that because speed was the main message of the ads and that the cars were being handled in a “dangerous manner”, they might encourage motorists to drive irresponsibly.
In response, Jaguar Land Rover said it had mistakenly omitted on-screen text, which would have stated: “filmed on closed roads with a professional driver. Do not attempt. Always obey local speed limits”, alongside another caption that would have made it clear the roads in the spot were closed at the time of filming.
However, the car marque also added that despite the fact the caption had been omitted, it did not believe the ads demonstrated unsafe or irresponsible driving and there was no indication speed limits were broken. Jaguar said it had intended the main messages of the ads to be the technology, construction and features of the cars – not speed.
