The British luxury vehicle brand Jaguar released a bizarre new ad Tuesday, prompting intense criticism along with questions about whether the company was still in the business of making cars and whether it may have confused November for so-called Pride month.
Jaguar leaned into the backlash to its loud and car-less campaign ostensibly celebrating deviancy, suggesting that its hackneyed call to defy the "ordinary" — already uniformly and reflexively resisted by massive companies, Western governments, the media, and various other institutions unmoored by tradition — was an introduction to "the future."
Provocative advertisements have long been used to court controversy, secure earned media, and remind the public that a company and its products still exist.
Facing a chicken delivery management crisis in the United Kingdom and widespread closures, the KFC Corporation leaned on the creative agency Mother in 2018 for a novel way to simultaneously apologize and advertise — printing "FCK," the anagram of its brand name, on chicken buckets.
Volkswagen ran its playful "Think Small" campaign in the 1960s to promote the Beetle.
Red Bull, evidently keen to sell more energy drinks, had Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner take a helium balloon up to an altitude of 39 kilometers, jump, break the sound barrier, and land on his feet in New Mexico.
Apple released an ad earlier this year titled "Crush" in which a compressor destroyed the various tools and means for real-world artistic endeavors and in-person activities that its new device would apparently replace and virtualize.
On Tuesday, Jaguar gave it a go, launching an ad campaign on social media with the caption "Copy nothing."
The video opens with a feminine individual with a Pacman-shaped afro leading five androgynous individuals dressed in misshapen apparel out of an elevator and onto a pink moonscape.
The text "delete ordinary" appears over a subsequent shot of an individual painting white lines.
'Fire your marketing team.'
In the following shot, a masculine figure wearing a dress and wielding a yellow sledgehammer appears in a blue room with the text "Break moulds."
Finally, the cast of androgynes, now joined by a heavyset black woman, crews together on the pink moonscape and strikes a well-choreographed pose.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in response to the ad, "Do you sell cars?"
Conservative writer and author Peachy Keenan shared a screenshot of the opening still and wrote, "You lost me at :01."
Keenan added, "Copy nothing [b]ut the worst, stalest cultural trends so you can subvert a storied brand. Congrats and no thanks."
"Well ... we know where the advertising team for Bud Light went," wrote Nick Freitas, Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
"Jaguar just pulled a Bud Light," wrote End Wokeness. "Wtf is this?"
Conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck tweeted, "Fire your marketing team and drop the woke stuff."
When asked, "What the actual hell is this[?]" the company responded, "The future."
The company's corresponding splash page states, "We're here to delete ordinary. To go bold. To copy nothing."
Rather than credit the Ohio band Devo or fashion designer Pierre Cardin with its new aesthetic, Jaguar said in a release that its "transformation is defined by Exuberant Modernism, a creative philosophy that underpins all aspects of the new Jaguar brand world."
Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover suggested to Car Dealer Magazine that the company is looking to sell to "younger, more affluent, and urban livers."
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Tesla kicked off the first deliveries of its retrofuturistic Cybertruck this week with an event showcasing the vehicle's capabilities and distinguishing features.
The crowd of shareholders gathered for the milestone at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, appeared happy to see that a ball — this time a baseball rather than a metal ball — was no longer able to shatter the vehicle's so-called "shatter-resistant Armor Glass" windows and that certain calibers of bullets were apparently unable to penetrate its trapezoidal-styled chassis. However, they went especially wild upon seeing how a handicapped Cybertruck was able to perform against a brand-new Porsche 911.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also made a stir Wednesday telling off the head of Disney and those who "care about looking good while doing evil," ran shareholders through various videos documenting the Cybertruck's alleged strength and power, stating at the outset, "You have a car here that experts said would never be made. ... I think it's our best product. Finally, the future will look like the future."
Musk ran tape of crash tests, noting that "because the center of gravity is so low, it doesn't roll over. And if you're ever in an argument with another car, you will win."
Footage showed the Cybertruck take a vehicular beating but more or less hold its ground. According to Musk, the company retained the vehicle's stainless steel body for production and its "exoskeleton" affords the Cybertruck more torsional stiffness than a McLaren P1.
The Tesla CEO stayed on the combative theme, detailing how an argument expressed in bullets might also go in the Cybertruck's favor.
Feat of Strength 1: Shots fired— (@)
Musk claimed that the truck's doors are bulletproof to .45 caliber and 9 millimeter rounds. Referencing impromptu tests conducted by comedian Joe Rogan, the South African billionaire indicated the Cybertruck's doors also appear resistant to 525 grain steel broadhead arrows fired at roughly 275 feet per second. Accordingly, an argumentative Cybertruck driver might have little to fear from attackers firing arrows and bullets at his waist and baseballs at his head.
After detailing the truck's 11,000-pound towing capacity and 2,500-pound max payload, Musk ran footage revealing how the Cybertruck stacks up against a Porsche 911 in a drag race.
While the crowd celebrated the alleged result — 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds, reaching 60 mph in 2.6 seconds — the circumstances under which the Cybertruck achieved the result are what generated the greatest excitement.
The Cybertruck not only beat the Porsche 911 in the demonstration; it did so while towing a Porsche 911.
— (@)
Musk laughed gleefully along with the crowd following the playback of the drag race.
"It can tow a Porsche 911 across a quarter-mile faster than the Porsche 911 can go by itself," Musk said. "Tougher than bullets. Tow pretty much anything. Faster than a 911 while towing a 911."
The humorous concept of having a Tesla vehicle compete against a high-end sports car while towing that same sports car appears to have been recycled from previous efforts. Motor Trend raced a Ludicrous Mode-equipped Tesla Model X towing an Alfa Romeo 4C against an Alfa Romeo 4C in 2016.
According to Tesla, the Cybertruck seats five adults; has a 6' by 4' composite bed that doesn't require a liner; has 67 cubic feet of lockable storage; and is 223.7" long and 70.5" high.
The Cybertruck also has 120 volt and 240 volt outlets in the bed to operate tools and allegedly could provide up to 11.5 kilowatts of power to electrify a homestead.
Car and Driver noted there are three trims: rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and "Cyberbeast." The RWD model has an alleged top speed of 112 mph, a range of 250 miles, and the ability to tow 7,500 lbs. The AWD model is said to have a range of 340 miles or over 470 miles with "range extender" battery and a curb weight of 6,603 pounds.
The RWD model reportedly starts at $60,990, the AWD model at $79,990, and the Cyberbeast at just under $100,000.
— (@)
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The NTSB is calling on 'intelligent speed assistance technology' (ISA) to be mandatory 'in all new cars.'
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