A Jaguar executive is whining after their woke ad campaign backfired, claiming the criticism of the luxury car brand is actually just “vile hatred and intolerance.”
Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover complained during a recent Financial Times interview that the message behind the company’s new ad was drowned out in “a blaze of intolerance” online. He also claimed that the ridiculous ad was not meant to be “woke.”
The ad features androgynous-looking models in outfits so bizarre that they would even be out of place in a modern fashion show. The models, which also include a man in a dress, are seen grabbing sledgehammers, painting over the camera lens, and making various poses while weird music plays and odd slogans are shown on the screen, including the phrases: “create exuberant,” “live vivid,” “delete ordinary,” and “break moulds.”
Copy nothing. #Jaguar pic.twitter.com/BfVhc3l09B
— Jaguar (@Jaguar) November 19, 2024
Notably, the ad for the luxury car company does not feature a single car, though it does show Jaguar’s new logo that strips away all of the brand’s personality and is missing the iconic jaguar image. The ad prompted widespread mockery on social media, with numerous people questioning why they effectively destroyed their image with the bizarre woke ad — declaring it “Bud Light 2.0.”
This is so the wrong timing for this. I can understand the C-suite being conned into this in 2022, but they have completely misread the moment. Bud Light 2.0. https://t.co/oIeBlUi7L5
— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) November 19, 2024
Meanwhile, the Jaguar executive is mad about the criticism, telling the Financial Times that the ad was an attempt to distinguish the brand from other car companies.
“If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand,” Glover claimed.
“We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently,” he added. “We wanted to move away from traditional automotive stereotypes.”
Glover also claimed that there were “very positive” reactions to the ad campaign, but he was dismayed by “the level of vile hatred and intolerance” to the bizarre ad.
He went on to argue that the change in messaging was designed in part to attract new customers to the luxury car company, claiming: “This is not a depiction of how we think our future customers are. We don’t want to necessarily leave all of our customers behind. But we do need to attract a new customer base.”
Jaguar boss DEFENDS woke DEI advertisement; accusing critics of “vile hatred and intolerance.”
Rawdon Glover, the managing director of Jaguar, said the campaign message had been lost in “a blaze of intolerance”, adding that the carmaker must move away from “traditional… pic.twitter.com/pLwYg6H5k8
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 22, 2024
Meanwhile, a senior advertising executive who previously worked for Jaguar has agreed with the critics’ condemnation of the woke ad, telling the Financial Times: “You can destroy a brand in 30 seconds that took a lifetime to build. Strong brands reinvent themselves but always remain true to the core of their DNA. For luxury brands in particular, authenticity is key and this fails the test.”
According to Jaguar’s official website, the luxury car brand will now be based on “exuberant modernism,” which will be debuted with a new concept car at Miami Art Week during the week of December 2.
