The advert, it seems universally agreed, isn’t very good. “Vapid”, according to the BBC’s Today programme. “I thought it was the Clangers,” Ian Hislop exclaimed on Have I Got News For You. Nigel Farage expects and indeed hopes that Jaguar will go bust as result of departing so egregiously from its Inspector Morse and real ale image.
What seemed to rile people most, though, was the fact that this was an advert by a car company that didn’t contain a car. Proclaiming a controversial rebrand without indicating that something of substance would be along in good time to back it up is the biggest mistake that’s been made here. Because in all other respects it’s job done: Jaguar has been a global talking point for the past fortnight. When was the last time any car maker managed that sort of coverage?
