BYD banned from advertising controversial Stellantis engines

Just a month ago, the advertising campaign was making people smile, cringe... and talk a lot. Today, it's simply been banned. In Italy, BYD's "Operazione PUREFICATION" advert, which openly mocked the group's belt-driven engines, has been banned. Stellantishas just been brought to a screeching halt by the Italian advertising regulator. A brutal end to a marketing operation as provocative as it was targeted.

Perfectly calculated provocation

From its launch in early January, "Operazione PUREFICATION" left no room for doubt. Without ever explicitly mentioning Stellantis, BYD was clearly targeting the 1.2 PureTech engine and its famous oil-bath timing belt, which over the years has become a symbol of mechanical fragility in the eyes of many European motorists.

With deliberately ironic slogans such as "A problem with the belt? With BYD, it's over!", the Chinese manufacturer turned a technical subject into a marketing weapon. The brand highlighted its colossal industrial resources, tens of thousands of engineers, patents and, above all, a long warranty, in stark contrast to the reliability problems that have plagued several generations of the French-Italian-American group's petrol engines.

When humor becomes a frontal attack

But where BYD crossed a line, according to the Italian authorities, was in the very mechanics of its commercial offer. The campaign offered a trade-in bonus of up to €10,000 for any vehicle fitted with an oil-immersed belt, provided that it switched to an electric or plug-in hybrid model from the Chinese brand. For the regulators, this was no longer a simple implicit comparison, but a targeted and denigrating attack on a specific competitor. Stellantis appealed to the IAP (Istituto dell'Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria), which ruled that the campaign violated the rules governing comparative advertising, because it was misleading, disparaging and unfair. As a result, the advertisement was outright banned in Italy.

Advertising banned... but the message got through

Ironically, by trying to silence the campaign, Stellantis gave it a second life in the media. The ban on "Operazione PUREFICATION" is now making far more noise than the posters themselves. And for BYD, the damage (or good) may already have been done. It now remains to be seen whether BYD will choose discretion... or whether it is already preparing a new, more subtle, but equally formidable riposte.