Steering Wheels, Wine Bars, and the Great British Irritation

It’s about what it represents: laziness, arrogance, and a patronising assumption that we won’t notice..

The moment I see a car advert in Britain with the steering wheel on the wrong side, I switch off. I don’t want to watch it. It’s lazy, it’s careless, and it grates. If it’s a foreign brand, I can just about forgive them — they don’t know any better. But when it’s a British car, supposedly built for British roads, being sold to British customers… and they still can’t be bothered to show it properly? That’s unforgivable..!!

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Why This Winds Us Up

Because it’s not about the steering wheel. It’s about what it represents: laziness, arrogance, and a patronising assumption that we won’t notice or, if we do, we won’t care.

We do notice. We do care.

Every time we see a gleaming SUV cruising down a motorway with the driver sitting on the left, we’re reminded that the ad wasn’t made for us. It was made for “the continent.” We’re just collateral exposure, patched in at the last minute with a dubbed voiceover and a sheepish caption: “Vehicle shown not to UK specification.”

To a brand that wants us to feel proud of their product, that’s a poor start.

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The Euro-Generic Ad: Other Examples of Sloppiness

Cars are the worst offenders, but they’re not alone. Once you notice, you see it everywhere:

• Supermarkets running TV spots with euro signs awkwardly edited into pound symbols, while the background still screams “shot in Lisbon.”

• Insurance adverts with blurred-out European number plates, because apparently we can’t tell the difference.

• Food commercials where the plugs and sockets are continental, not British — a small detail, but jarring.

• Petrol ads with fuel price boards in euros per litre, badly blurred.

• Tech adverts showing phones with French or US carrier logos, never EE or O2.

It’s the same formula: make one glossy master ad for Europe, then lazily repackage it for the UK. It’s efficient for them. For us, it’s sloppy.

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“Hell with the Plebs”

Do the executives know this annoys people? Of course they do. But in their world, it’s a numbers game.

Picture the conversation in some trendy Shoreditch wine bar:

Exec One: “We’ll save £300,000 by just swapping the voiceover.”

Exec Two: “But the steering wheel’s on the wrong side.”

Exec One: [sips Pinot Noir] “Darling, nobody cares. They’ll still buy the car.”

Exec Three: “Besides, if anyone moans, it just means they noticed the ad. Free engagement!”

And with that, another lazy Euro import makes its way onto British screens, grating against national pride like chalk squeaking on a blackboard.

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National Pride vs. Imported Laziness

Here’s the rub: nationalism — or let’s call it national pride — isn’t a bad thing. We’re told endlessly to be proud of products, proud of brands, proud of “owning the lifestyle.” Yet how can we be proud when the adverts themselves make it clear we weren’t even considered?

If you want us to feel ownership, show us ownership. Show us the car with a right-hand drive wheel. Show us our number plates. Show us our roads and our context. Otherwise, we’re just gatecrashers in someone else’s glossy vision.

And that’s where the executives miss the point. In their drive to go global, they’ve forgotten the basics of local. It’s not about waving flags — it’s about respecting audiences enough to reflect them properly.

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The Cost of Laziness

Let’s be clear: it’s not as if the brands can’t afford it.

A car advert might cost £5 million to produce. Localising properly for Britain — shooting a few UK-specific scenes with right-hand drive cars — might add £200,000. That’s pennies compared to the cost of a single prime-time TV slot. Yet they don’t bother.

Why? Because they can get away with it.

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The Executive Problem

The real problem isn’t money. It isn’t logistics. It’s the executives. The people signing off these adverts may be brilliant at ordering tapas in Soho House, but they’ve got no common sense.

They think showing a British car with the steering wheel on the wrong side won’t matter. They think blurring out number plates is good enough. They think we’re too stupid, or too distracted, to notice.

But we do notice. We notice because it insults our intelligence. It tells us we don’t matter enough to get the basics right.

And when you strip it down, it’s not just lazy — it’s arrogant. Arrogant to think a global ad shot in Berlin or Barcelona will feel authentic in Birmingham or Bolton. Arrogant to think we’ll happily swallow it. Arrogant to believe their own cleverness in the edit suite can cover the cracks.

The truth? These people are out of touch. They live in a bubble of “brand values” and “pan-European strategy decks,” where a glass of Sauvignon counts as insight and a brainstorming session in Shoreditch counts as research. Common sense has left the building, and the result is adverts that miss the most obvious detail of all: us.

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The Growth of Irritation

As Britain becomes more conscious of identity — cultural, political, economic — these lazy adverts are more than irritations. They feed resentment: the sense that decisions are made elsewhere, for someone else, and we’re expected to accept the leftovers.

That’s not healthy for brands. And it’s not healthy for politics either. The growth of nationalism isn’t about flag-waving; it’s about people wanting to feel respected, seen, and valued in the everyday details. Even adverts. Especially adverts.

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Conclusion

Adverts aren’t just about selling products. They’re about selling belonging. If you want us to believe in your car, your supermarket, your tech, then give us something that reflects us — not a generic Euro import with a steering wheel on the wrong side.

Because every time you show us that, you’re telling us exactly where we stand in your priorities. And it’s not behind the wheel.