Description:
A video posted to the advertiser’s social media platform promoted the Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature of its vehicles. The video appeared to be a compilation of individual vehicle owners’ experiences with the FSD feature.
In the first opening scene of the advertisement, a man is shown sitting in the driver’s seat, making an espresso from a machine, while the vehicle is self-driving. He says, “I do my espresso while I’m driving”, while he reclines back slightly to drink it. A disclaimer appears onscreen for the entire scene stating, “FSD (Supervised) requires that the driver pay attention to the road and be prepared to take over.”
In another scene, a woman is shown dancing with her hands in the air, while sitting in the driver’s seat, again while the vehicle is self-driving. She says, “I love when I’m doing FSD” while she is looking towards the passenger seat at the device that is recording her.
In a third scene, a man is shown sitting in the driver’s seat with his hands crossed while the vehicle is self-driving. He says, “I had driving anxiety. I wasn’t sure what I was going to be able to do. You’re able to take in everything around you and kind of enjoy the ride without getting so mentally stressed, mentally fatigued by focusing on, “oh what’s that car going to do, this car, this car, this car, because we have all these cameras watching exactly what’s going on.”
The advertisement ends with an onscreen message that says, “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)”.
Complaint:
The complainant alleged the advertisement is dangerous because it depicts situations that, if emulated in the real world, would put lives at unnecessary risk.
Response:
Although Ad Standards requested a response from the advertiser, there was no response sent to Council.
Decision:
In their discussions, a minority of Council members were of the view that while there may have been some exaggerated scenes depicted, there was overall balance to the advertisement in that the drivers appeared to be in control as they were cognizant of having to take over and drive the vehicle. Some Council members noted that the whole point of the ad was to demonstrate the vehicle’s self-driving feature so emphasising this was not done gratuitously or without merit. One Council member said, “…the ten-and-two rule is not the baseline for what’s safe and what’s not. Control of car is what’s important…” These Council members determined the advertisement did not, without reason, display a disregard for safety by depicting situations that might reasonably be interpreted as encouraging unsafe or dangerous practices, or acts.
This, however, was not the prevailing view of Council, who found the depicted behaviours demonstrated that the drivers’ ability to be in control and take over the vehicle was compromised. A majority of Council members believed the advertisement displayed behaviours that went too far and crossed the line of acceptability under the Code.
According to these Council members, a man looking down pouring his espresso while the vehicle appears to be moving at a fast speed, and a woman who is dancing with both hands in the air while looking down at the camera instead of on the road ready to take control of her self-driving vehicle, display unsafe behaviours that are unacceptable.
Similarly, the man who has high anxiety about driving and is happy that the vehicle drives for him so that he can enjoy the ride without focusing on what other cars are going to do is also unacceptable. As one Council member stated, “this suggests the feature is a magic pill for driving anxiety and that you don’t have to care about what’s around you, but rather just let the car do it’s thing.”
For these reasons, a majority of Council members held that the advertisement displayed a disregard for safety by depicting situations that might reasonably be interpreted as encouraging an unsafe or dangerous practice or act.
Infraction:
Clause 10
