The controversial new Jaguar ad doesn’t include any actual cars (Image: Jaguar)
It’s fast becoming the most hated rebrand in history. When luxury car maker Jaguar launched a 30-second “teaser” advertisement featuring strutting models in brightly coloured outfits, it set social media ablaze – for all the wrong reasons.
The ad, buzzing with the slogans “Copy Nothing” and “Live Vivid”, didn’t feature a single car. Also notably absent was the company’s iconic and much-loved pouncing cat logo, which is being retired in favour of a “modern” design.
Viewers horrified by the meaningless mess ridiculed the brand’s bosses on comment sections.
“This isn’t an ad, it’s Jaguar’s funeral,” wrote one YouTuber. Comedian Ricky Gervais parodied the ad with a selfie of himself in the bath, pulling a face and holding a bottle of his Dutch Barn vodka, titled: “Copy Nothing.” And Tesla chief asked bosses: “Do you sell cars?” on his social media platform X.
The controversy, defended by Jaguar Land Rover’s managing director this week, is the latest example of a brand pursuing an apparently “woke” agenda to appease and hopefully attract socially-conscious, younger audiences. But at what cost?
In recent years there has been a super-charging of brands jumping on the social responsibility bandwagon, and creating polarising adverts that alienate loyal customers as they aggressively market messages of diversity and empowerment.
It’s given rise to the popular refrain of “Go Woke, Go Broke” – a powerful consumer backlash where fed-up customers boycott a brand, plummeting its stock value, to send a clear message of their dissatisfaction.
Nike is among the high-profile victims of this modern phenomenon. In 2018, people posted images of themselves burning their Nike shoes and clothing after the sportswear giant featured NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in an ad. He had previously kneeled at a game to protest racial injustice. Sales plummeted by more than 3%.
In May, Apple apologised for its advert “Crush”, a supposed celebration of how much creativity could be packed into its thinnest iPad. The clip showed books, musical instruments, easels and many other items being destroyed by a huge hydraulic press.
Worker inspecting Jaguars on the assembly line at Leyland Motors in 1986 (Image: Getty)
After it was widely derided as “tone-deaf”, Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Disney has similarly hit the headlines for its increasingly loud left-leaning agenda on and off screen in terms of diversity and inclusion. A prominent backer of trans rights, the entertainment conglomerate’s first non-binary character, Raine Whispers, was unveiled in 2023, a year after company heir Charlee Cora announced they were transgender.
But the entertainment giant also became embroiled in a protracted row about the running of its Florida theme park, sparked by the protest of a state law prohibiting the teaching of sexuality orientation and gender identity in schools. Disney suffered four box office bombs last year, culminating in $628million of lost revenue.
This followed prior losses of $300million in 2022 for two “woke” films – Strange World and the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear – both featuring prominent LGBTQ+ storylines and disadvantaged characters.
The company subsequently admitted a growing “misalignment” between its content and “public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment”. And this seems to be the sticking point – brands which hijack socio-political causes and realign their values to appease younger, liberally minded audiences risk losing their core demographic.
Gillette learned this to its detriment with a controversial advert in 2019 at the height of the #MeToo movement, calling out so-called instances of toxic masculinity in social situations.The company’s key slogan “The best a man can get” – about its razors – was repurposed into a question about male behaviour: “Is this the best a man can get?”
Lifelong Gillette user wrote on X: “This absurd virtue-signalling PC guff may drive me away to a company less eager to fuel the current pathetic global assault on masculinity. Let boys be damn boys. Let men be damn men.”
This bland new logo, replacing the firm’s famous pouncing tiger, has enraged fans (Image: Jaguar)
But even this pales in comparison with Bud Light, which inspired the most famous brand boycott of recent years.
It began last April after trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted the American beer in an ad premiering during the annual Super Bowl. The voracious TikToker was seen frolicking in a bathtub, blowing bubbles and drinking a can of Bud Light.
In a subsequent paid sponsorship post for Bud Light, Mulvaney dressed up as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s to promote her “first year of womanhood”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bud Light’s core male, sports-loving demographic did not approve and retribution was swift.
Singer Kid Rock and NFL player Trae Waynes were among the stars sharing videos of themselves shooting Bud Light cans. Within two weeks, Bud Light’s year-on-year sales had plummeted by 17%, falling by 27% by September. And as of this summer, Bud Light was no longer the US’s top-selling beer, having slumped to third place.
However, not everyone is convinced that “Go Woke, Go Broke” is an own goal for sales.
One recent study reported companies employing inclusive advertising enjoy an uplift in figures of 16% over the long term. It’s too early to know if Jaguar’s disastrous rebrand will impact sales of future Jags. Its new car will be released to the public early next month. Whether it makes Christmas wish lists is another matter.
Veteran PR expert Mark Borkowski is one of those urging restraint. He tweeted: “There’s clearly a grand plan unfolding here. I’ll be watching from the sidelines. “It’ll either soar to the heavens –or someone will be handed a concertina for an eternal gig at the gates of hell.”
Dr Raj Persaud, with his green E-type, is among disappointed Jaguar owners (Image: Raj Persaud)
DR RAJ PERSAUD, WE NEED A RETURN TO DEVIL-MAY-CARE COURAGE
Is this controversy not just about a mere car, and instead, is it in fact a key turning point in the way Britain thinks about itself psychologically?
It’s no accident that Hollywood has British secret agent Austin Powers driving a Jaguar draped in an ostentatious Union Jack paint scheme; this brand uniquely transmits traditional Britishness to the world. The lack of confidence in a Jag being a Jag appears to hasten the day when even James Bond may be too embarrassed to drive a British car.
I feel qualified to comment on the link between the exceptional emotional power of sports cars, not just as a psychiatrist who also collects classic jaguars, but also as the author of popular articles on what the car you drive reveals about your personality.
Elon Musk, owner of now the most valuable carmaker worldwide, Tesla, asked Jaguar: “Do you sell cars?” He correctly psychoanalysed that Jaguar, appears to have become embarrassed about… making cars. So brace yourself for the bumpy journey.
During the early 1930’s, the UK apparently overtook France to become Europe’s largest car producer, while in the early 1950’s, it is claimed, that we provided over 50% of all the world’s exported vehicles. So given this downward spiral, now is a vital psychological moment for the nation; is this the last pit stop before the end of the race for us?
Jaguar was a key brand back in the swinging sixties, which symbolised what made Britain cool and great, even as the Empire was being dismantled.
When the Jaguar E-Type Series 1 was unveiled for the first time at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show, the world gasped and wondered at the unrivalled achievement of British Engineering. Even Enzo Ferrari infamously admitted, through gritted teeth, it to be “the most beautiful car ever made.” The unprecedented hullaballoo generated meant Jaguar suddenly needed another E-Type at the show. One of the test engineers was urgently told to drop everything and raced at the last minute, from Coventry to Geneva in just twelve hours, arriving in the E-Type that was going on display, with just minutes before the show opened.
I am sure he stuck to the speed limit religiously!
It’s this kind of derring-do that contributes to the legend that is Jaguar, and the mythology that any country needs to restore pride in itself, through the glamour of what it makes. And indeed, why it bothers to make anything at all. People, just as nations do, need stories to relate about ourselves which contribute to our sense of self-esteem.
Jaguar seems to have forgotten this essential point, perhaps it is even now embarrassed about the brand symbolising a certain roguish flamboyance.
Indeed, no film about the notorious East End gangsters the Krays is complete without featuring the massive yet sleek Jaguar 420G which they famously tooled around in, intimidating fellow criminals.
I own a 1969 model of the same car, and can attest to the fact it remains a menacing and daunting design, that still today stops passers-by in their tracks. We all know that gangsters from yesteryear had more style. They always sported the prettiest girls on their arms, wore the sharpest suits, and, of course, drove the most glamorous cars.
The Krays wouldn’t be found dead in a Mercedes. The gangsters famously explained that they loved their Jaguar because the boot was so big, it could hold (and I am paraphrasing now), two bodies and ten Rembrandts.
We need a return to the kind of devil-may-care courage to take risks, which explains why Jaguar won the 24 hours Le Mans race five times between 1951 and 1957. They didn’t do that by being scared to be different, or of not offending anyone.
- Dr Raj Persaud is a Harley Street psychiatrist and author of The Mental Vaccine for Covid 19 (Amberley Press). He owns a Jaguar XK 120, a 420G, an E-Type and an XJS V12 convertible