An advertisement for Jaguar’s F-Type Coupé has been banned after a complaint that it promoted unsafe driving.
The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint about the ‘The Art of Villainy’ ad, with the complainant saying it was socially irresponsible because it featured and encouraged dangerous driving.
The clip, in which actor Tom Hiddleston compares the merits of the car with the characteristics that make up a good Hollywood villain, ends with him accelerating along the Embankment, which the ASA deemed to be ‘suggesting excessive speed.’
‘Whilst we acknowledged the sequences were brief, we considered that the second part of the ad suggested that the car was being driven at excessive speeds and that the ad therefore encouraged irresponsible driving,’ it said in a statement.
‘We told Jaguar Land Rover not to portray speed or driving behaviour that might encourage motorists to drive irresponsibly in future.’
Jaguar Land Rover argued the clip was set almost entirely in an underground car park and the car drove at normal road speed at the end.
They added there was a police presence throughout filming, but the ASA stood by its decision.
It is the second time a Jaguar advert has been banned in as many months.
In June, Jaguar was ordered to pull a set of four video adverts on the website showing a car speeding down a tunnel and crossing over the white lines in the middle of the road.
Advertising Standards Authority, Tom Hiddleston