A disturbed viewer has turned to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after viewing an advert for the Audi R8, which, in turn, had it banned from the web.
Created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty advertising agency, the footage showed a CGI eyeball contracting, and dilating, reflecting the lights of a tunnel, as the German supercar was being put through its paces, accompanied by the roar of the V10 engine at first, and by soft piano music later on.
The camera eventually moved to the Audi R8, as it was slowly taking a right turn and exiting the tunnel, onto a closed track. “More focus. More drive. The all-new Audi R8 V10 Plus with carbon ceramic brakes“, was then posted on the screen, just before the video ended.
As reported by Autoexpress, the ad was found to be “in breach of the code regulating motoring ads” for promoting irresponsible driving, the footage was pulled by UK’s ASA, making the Volkswagen Group, which is Audi’s parent company, come forward and state that the ad was filmed at speeds below 30 mph (48 km/h).
“We considered that viewers would interpret the changes in pupil size as an emotional response to the movement of the car, as represented by the sounds that were audible during eye sequence“, the agency said.
In response, the brand with the four rings wrote: “The ad was particularly intended to highlight the car’s carbon ceramic brakes, the new, naturally aspirated engine, and the 7-speed S-Tronic gearbox“, while claiming that no real eye would work in such a way.
Note: This is not the original video, but one very close to it