American space agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has distanced itself from a new ad campaign launched by South Korean automotive giant, Hyundai Motor.

The company launched an online video showing its cars writing a 5.5-square-kilometre message on tire tracks in the sand of a dried out lake bed. The message shows "Steph [loves] You!". The message is written by a young American girl for "her astronaut father working at the International Space Station," Hyundai said.

The message writing actually happened at the Delamar dry lakein the Nevada desert and is verified by the Guinness world record team. It is described as the largest-ever tire track image. However, NASA pointed out that none of its employees appeared on the video.Hyundai's communications team did not identify the astronaut's name.

NASA said that it has advised Hyundai about video footage of the ISS and how the earth is seen from the ISS as the images are in the public domain and can be accessed freely. NASA also said that when the company contacted it a few months earlier, it pointed out that there will be an actor in the advertisement.. NASA officials said none of NASA's astronauts were involved, on an authorized or unauthorized basis.