Jaguar managing director defends rebrand, accuses critics of ‘hatred and intolerance’

The Jaguar Land Rover managing director is defending the British luxurious automobile firm after its current rebranding spurred a backlash on social media.

Jaguar debuted its new brand and slogan, “Copy Nothing,” in a promotional video final week. The advert featured androgynous fashions in brightly colored, over-the-top outfits, together with one man sporting a gown, together with different slogans akin to “create exuberantly,” “reside vivid,” “delete unusual” and “break molds.” Notably, the advert didn’t function with any automobiles in its 30-second run.

The video blew up on social media, attracting over 163 million views and over 100,000 feedback. Critics accused Jaguar of abandoning its legacy as a high-performance sports activities automobile producer with the advertising and marketing marketing campaign and claimed the model had gone “woke.”

In a current interview with the Monetary Instances, Jaguar Land Rover managing director Rawdon Glover defended the model relaunch and denied the advert was meant to ship a “woke” message.

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A New Jaguar promotional advert acquired backlash online after it was posted by the model’s X account. (Jaguar by way of YouTube / Fox Information)

Whereas Glover praised the eye across the marketing campaign as “very optimistic,” he mentioned he was disillusioned by the “degree of vile hatred and intolerance” proven by social media commentators in the direction of the fashions within the video.

He claimed the advert’s message had been misplaced “in a blaze of intolerance.”

“If we play in the identical method that everyone else does, we’ll simply get drowned out. So we shouldn’t flip up like an auto model,” Glover informed the FT.

“We have to re-establish our model and at a very completely different worth level so we have to act otherwise. We wished to maneuver away from conventional automotive stereotypes.”

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Jaguar promotional photograph for “Copy Nothing” rebrand. (Jaguar / Fox Information)

The Jaguar rebrand is a part of the corporation’s efforts to appeal to wealthier prospects in its transition to an all-electric automobile lineup.

“This isn’t an outline of how we predict our prospects are,” Glover informed the FT. “We don’t need to essentially go away all of our prospects behind. However, we do want to draw a brand new buyer base.”

Jaguar beforehand defended the corporate’s model relaunch in an announcement to Fox Information Digital.

“Our model relaunch for Jaguar is a daring and imaginative reinvention and as anticipated it has attracted consideration and debate. As proud custodians at such an outstanding level in Jaguar’s historical pa, st we’ve preserved iconic symbols while taking a dramatic leap ahead. The model reveals is barely step one on this thrilling new period and we sit up for sharing extra on Jaguar’s transformation within the coming days and weeks,” the assertion mentioned.

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Fox Information’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.