Jaguar, the luxury car maker owned by Tata Motors, jumped the shark in its rebranding efforts, leaving the denizens on the internet utterly confused by its new advertisement.
The rebranding, led by Santino Pietrosanti, features a 30-second clip that depicts everything you'd expect to see in a fashion advertisement -- bright colored clothing in shades of pinks, yellows, and oranges worn by models who are doing activities like painting and holding a hammer.
Surprisingly, the short clip does not feature any new models of a Jaguar car, despite Tata Motors having five new models including fully electric vehicles in its 2025 lineup. It's reported that Jaguar's Land Rover will feature a computer brain and nervous system made by Nvidia.
Naturally, the visuals left the internet perplexed, with the world's wealthiest man, Elon Musk, asking the question of the day.
Do you sell cars?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2024
Lulu Cheng Meservey, the founder of communications firm ROSTRA, gave a sharp take on why the ad is failing all over the internet, bluntly describing it as "disastrous" and missing the mark when it comes to drawing in upscale consumers.
She said the ad should have focused on "innovation and engineering."
Taste aside — from a purely strategic perspective, this brand marketing is disastrous for Jaguar.
— Lulu Cheng Meservey (@lulumeservey) November 19, 2024
For context, Jaguar sales have been plummeting (down 70% in the US in five years). It's a crisis. Their #1 strategic imperative for comms and marketing should be to sell cars. So... https://t.co/5E59IleGVl
The people of Reddit gave their take on the ad, asking, "Who is the Jaguar rebrand targeting?"
One spectator on X attributed the visuals to Pietrosanti's stance on LGBTQ+ rights, referring to it as "unbearable woke nonsense."
This is so unhinged I searched their new head of branding, Santino Pietrosanti & came across this video of him warning us about exactly what he was going to do. Five minutes of the most unbearable woke nonsense you've ever heard, well worth a listen. pic.twitter.com/0Ey0KSI7rM https://t.co/1F0bYJu5c8
— Fox (@foxblade98) November 19, 2024
Some commenters on the internet, compared the commercial and accompanying ad copy to Bud Light's failed rebranding of 2023 when the beer maker embraced LGBTQ+ rights and featured Dylan Mulvaney, a trans influencer, in a partnership that led to backlash. Consumers ended up boycotting the brand, causing a staggering 21.4% drop in sales for Anheuser-Busch.
Jaguar just pulled a Bud Light. Wtf is this?
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) November 19, 2024
pic.twitter.com/BRGQkhR7cO
Ironically, both conservatives who consumed the beer and the LGBTQ+ community whom Anheuser-Busch was seeking to connect with rejected the partnership for being "performative" and pandering, reported The Drum.
