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Urban mobility model based on the use of the private car has important environmental and spatial consequences in contemporary cities. Nonetheless, the automotive industry has attempted to refuse these negative impacts employing a rhetoric discourse following their self-interests. Advertising has become a valuable tool for that purpose: beyond its commercial function, it transfers to the consumer certain symbolic meanings that are juxtaposed on the car in so far as merchandise. Thus, through the advertising message, an intentional and biased image of urban landscapes and public spaces is constructed, playing an important role at the service of the car industry and the road traffic. This paper addresses these mechanisms of production and reproduction of a deliberate image through the Critical Discourse Analysis. For that purpose, a sample of 81 car adverts broadcasted in Spanish TV channels was examined. Using both representations of specific cities and other idealized models, it is concluded that car advertising projects a softened urban image, reducing the complexity of urban forms and functions to a mere scenery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]