Two ads for Land Rover Defenders have been banned for giving the misleading impression that the vehicle’s parking sensors could alert drivers to a cliff edge. The TV ads, seen in February, showed several Land Rovers driving in difficult terrain on an island before reverse parking on the edge of a cliff, using the vehicles’ sensors to guide them.
Two viewers, who understood that parking sensors warned of objects behind the vehicle but not empty space, challenged whether the ads were misleading about the extent of the feature’s ability. Jaguar Land Rover agreed that parking sensors would not warn of empty space behind the vehicle.
They believed, however, that the side shots of the vehicle clearly showed that it was reversing towards a boulder, the size and height of which would have been picked up by the sensors. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the ads focused on the Defender’s reversing feature and included a scene with an in-car camera view and the sensor beeping as the vehicle approached the edge of the cliff.
