Remember when Tesla was known as a disruptive and innovative outsider? Blending luxury and tech, it challenged a staid automobile industry and changed how we saw electric cars. Some even saw it as a company that would save the planet from the climate crisis. It’s now a perfect example of how quickly a brand can go from iconic to anathema.
Tesla can’t complain about a lack of exposure. It’s still in the news every day even if it’s not selling many cars. The problem is that with the Cybertruck design disaster and CEO Elon Musk taking time off to meddle in politics, the stories have turned drastically negative. Viral anti-Tesla adverts show just how far the brand has fallen, and they could be hard for it to recover from.
Tesla still has a lot of fans. Just this week we saw an AI Cybertruck advert that tried to present the mocked electric pick-up as a heartwarming and inspirational family vehicle… or something. But Tesla’s detractors have better marketing, mainly because Elon Musk is handing them opportunities on a shiny Tesla-branded stainless steel plate.
The campaign group Everyone Hates Elon may not have the most imaginative name, but it’s caught the moment with its anti-Tesla ads in the UK. And it take advantage of every opportunity that Elon gives them.
Clearly disproving Musk’s claim that there’s no free speech in the UK, the group has mounted a guerrilla marketing campaign that includes ads on public transport and at bus stops in London. The sharp copy shows that British free speech is alive and kicking.
The anti-Tesla posters show the power of genuine guerrilla marketing – and also why such tactics are so hard for corporate brands to co-opt. It works when it’s authentic, spontaneous and expresses public feeling.
The group has even created physical products like a anti-fascist air freshener for Tesla cars.
The campaign has been making the news internationally, including in the US. Amusingly, some observers, including the podcaster and political pancake Joe Rogan, have been speculating on who’s funding the ads, apparently unable to compute the idea that such a sleek campaign could be the work of a few mates with a crowd-funding initiative.
Traditionally, Tesla itself didn’t do advertising. That’s started to change in the past couple of years with ads cropping up on YouTube and other social media platforms, coinciding, coincidentally or not, with Musk’s attempt to sue companies that don’t advertise on X.
With sales plummeting and Tesla’s detractors now running stronger campaigns than the brand itself, it might need to rethink its approach, but it will require a very creative campaign to undo the damage at this point. It might even need a complete rebrand – it could start by dropping the Tesla logo with its unfortunate resemblance.
For more car branding news, see the stunning Aston Martin CGI ads made in Unreal Engine.
