November 23, 2024

"And Jaguar’s answer to the crapness of a car they can no longer persuade middle-aged, middle-class, professional family men to buy?"

"Improve the car? Persuade the men? Or, wait, try to sell it instead to anorexic, teenage, intersex manga fans of colour, because they might just be stupid enough to fall for it? Except the ad’s not for them, is it? Like most adverts now, this is a story of rich white heterosexuals selling stuff to other rich white heterosexuals, using images of multi-ethnic, pansexual, differently abled humans in order to appear progressive, without actually doing or changing anything.... The ads stand for NOTHING.... They are born of a contempt for the middle of society, which is conceived at the top with the imagined complicity of the bottom. It’s pure Kamala Harris. It’s 'joy.' It is the sort of thing that got Trump elected: a small number of ivory tower wokeists alienating the middle class and pushing nice people further and further to the right. It’s happening to me even as I write this column!... I need to go and shout expletives into a pillow for a bit and then dig out my Maga hat."

Writes Giles Coren — who is British — in "I take Jaguar’s woeful woke rebrand personally/From heritage British cars to classroom lessons, there’s always one demographic under attack — the middle classes" (London Times).

He's talking about this crazy commercial (that somehow I've avoided blogging about until now):


Why haven't I blogged about it? Not just because everyone was already talking about it. It's a bid for attention, so I don't want to give them what they want. But my depriving them of attention is, at this point, meaningless. Jaguar got the noise it wanted. 

107 comments:

TML said...

All those people are actually Tilda Swinton in different outfits

doctrev said...

A lot of white people, including the atypical ones, are manga fans because it lets them avoid hideously ugly and negrified Western culture. I don't think Jaguar has ever branded itself as "middle class" and I imagine their owners would be horrified to be compared to a cheap model Mercedes or- God forbid- a Honda.

Dave Begley said...

You are what you drive.

Jaguar has just killed its brand. Did they not know their customers? Did they ever look at the numbers?

Kate said...

I've avoided watching it for the same reason you've avoided blogging it.

I doubt Jaguar will suffer a "go woke, go broke" backlash simply because it's not a product regular folks can afford. Bud Light screwed up by insulting their customer base. Jaguar's customer base will take this backlash as a badge.

TML said...

I've been an advertising creative director for over 30 years and this commercial made me howl. It's a "Hooli" commercial from the show "Silicon Valley." It's absolutely terribly horribly risibly bad.

Sydney said...

LOL

Sydney said...

All those models look hostile.

Joe Bar said...

I was looking for a nice XKR or F-Type convertible. Maybe, not so much, now.

Licky Lundy said...

The Mad Men Jaguar connection. “At Last, Something Beautiful You Can Truly Own”

Vonnegan said...

Volvo took advantage of everyone howling about Jaguar to release a wonderful ad. Watch that one instead. https://x.com/HuinGuillaume/status/1859472963323510995

Vonnegan said...

YES!

RideSpaceMountain said...

As seen around the web in recent days:

#Faguar

John henry said...

Has jaguar ever been a "reliable" car? Pretty, yes, but the joke going back to the 60s was that you needed 2. One to drive one in the shop.

Not just jag but british cars in general. None of them still exist because people just would not put up with the bullshit just for coolness remover "Lucas (electrics) prince of darkness"?

For the past 50 years jag has been shopped around like a red headed stepchild.

It is time to die. Might as well go out this way.

John Henry

Licky Lundy said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-po2PAEZ1M

June 2012

john said...

It will drive noone away who was already interested in a Jaguar. It will drive noone into the Jaguar showroom who didnt already know about the car. The add is a complete success. 1.5 million views, who cares if it got 23000 comments, all negative.

Kakistocracy said...

The ad does seem genuinely bad. People don't buy Jaguars to be modern.

Insofar as they are looking for a new customer base, they may have been better off starting with an entirely new brand.

Lilly, a dog said...

The 1990 movie Crazy People had a much better Jaguar ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzyNPoI17rE&t=55s

Dixcus said...

"[ ]aguar got what it wanted."

So did Anheuser-Busch. Lost $20 billion in stockholder value to get what they wanted.

Aggie said...

I would venture that most Jaguar owners are buying the car for the brand, not the experience. The enthusiasts have been winnowed out, over the years, by the deterioration of the engineering effort, and the erosion of the brand from something that was unique, to something that is more..... conventional. At some point, they started using Ford engines, for instance, although I don't know if they still do.

It's the usual monetization process that hollows out well-received brands when they cash in on their quality. The brand runs on for a while, but the cost-to-manufacture is ruthlessly ground down by sacrifices to the very elements that established its reputation in the first place.

Kakistocracy said...

Brand is at least as much about customer experience as it is brand identity. Jaguar cars have had several long-standing experience issues. They take a bit more 'driving' than other cars. This is great for those that like that sort of thing, but it somewhat narrows their appeal. The cabins are less spacious, often with below-standard fit and finish, and with outdated infotainment systems. Delivery wait times can be long, and after-sales service is poor.

The rebrand is very poor, although I might add that the Jaguar brand identity has never been that great. The few brand assets that have been announced don't hang together. The rotated J monogram is peurile. The new typeface, borrowed from premium FMCG/CPG already looks dated, as does the striped IBM-style cat. The forward-looking positioning seems to depend entirely on video and photography rather than any other brand elements. This will prove to be an expensive mistake in brand management terms. The fashion cues fall apart as soon as you try to see what fashion is being referenced. It has almost no relation to contemporary luxury fashion or haute-couture and instead presents itself as a kind of 1980s pastiche. I don't believe the brand team have any real connection to luxury branding.

There's a case for a brand refresh, but not for this one.

Dixcus said...

Bud Light screwed up by putting a man cos-playing a 12-year-old girl into a bathtub and then started handing "her" beers.

What was the next thing that was going to happen???

Kakistocracy said...

Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover said in an interview with the Financial Times that the intended message had been lost in “a blaze of intolerance”

I'm surprised this guy didn't work on the Kamala Harris 2024 campaign.

RideSpaceMountain said...

They were going to vet the advert more thoroughly, but corportate leadership had to warm up their Jaaaaaaags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eWIrBOc3zE

Dixcus said...

That depends on how gay you're trying to turn your audience.

Dixcus said...

If you are the one that sits in the chair at the hotel while the goings are going on, you'd look like that too.

Levi Starks said...

I’m driving a 2008 Honda Element. Which has for the 16 years I’ve owned it never failed to start and take me wherever I needed to go and perform whatever tasks needed to be done. Nothin more nothing less.

Dixcus said...

Their drivers will forever be known now as Jaggots.

Howard said...

It's probably an appropriate ad for their clientele given that only a pretentious moron whatever buy a British vehicle.

Dixcus said...

Yes, but is it gay?

Breezy said...

I’ve owned a Jaguar for several years with no issues at all. It’s been a great car for me. I love driving it. That said, I believe they were trending to go all EV in the near term. That’s what turned me off of them. I honestly don’t see how car companies full of car enthusiasts couldn’t see that an EV is a niche car, not for general use. Jaguar itself may be niche, but not that niche.

The ad had the same effect on me - niche and a turn off.

Carol said...

The white women in Advertising are fascinated with Black Bighair. Blacks themselves go in for long blond hair or French braid extensions or a big bun on top so it can be seen from the front on camera. Quite the disconnect.

Political Junkie said...

"It is the sort of thing that got Trump elected: a small number of ivory tower wokeists alienating the middle class and pushing nice people further and further to the right. It’s happening to me even as I write this column!... I need to go and shout expletives into a pillow for a bit and then dig out my Maga hat." That was funny right there.

Oh Yea said...

The joke I remember about British car is they are referred as adopt-a-mechanic cars

Big Mike said...

Jaguar got the noise it wanted.

@Althouse, this sentence suggests you believe in P. T. Barnum’s adage that “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Well, there is such a thing as bad publicity, as Bud Lite proved. Now I am not the sort of person who would think about paying $115,000 for an automobile — alas! — but it seems to me that the sort of person who would buy a car that expensive, besides being wealthy, would describe himself* as a “car guy.” And this is not the sort of ad that will appeal to a “car guy.”
_____________
* I wrote that knowing that for many years my wife was in love with the Jaguar XJ saloon, but we had a choice between the saloon or college for the kids plus a Subaru Outback in the garage. Wife hated the Outback but it was a highly reliable car.

RCOCEAN II said...

Its like someone took a Louis Vuitton Handbag commercial and just used it for Jaguar. Personally, I'd never buy a Jag. Aren't they mechanically unreliable like all Brit cars?

RCOCEAN II said...

"Their drivers will forever be known now as Jaggots."

Well done, sir.

Aggie said...

"On 15 February 2021, Jaguar Land Rover announced that all cars made under the Jaguar brand will be fully electric by 2025."

Trump voters hardest hit.

RCOCEAN II said...

Jaguar doesn't sell a lot of automobiles. 420,084 new cars in 2023. By comparison, Toyota sold 11 million.

Political Junkie said...

Carol - Way back I knew a cultured, educated, wealthy black woman, call her Diahann, whose features were somewhat Anglo, with rather fine hair. She needed no extensions, weaves, etc. She would talk about "bad hair" and laugh at others in the tribe. The white Advertising Ladies, who were racist Mean Girl bitches, did not like Diahann, or more accurately, just ignored Diahann. My point is the Advertising Ladies are triple gross becase sales of Jaguar will decline, the message is puke, and the Advertising Ladies push tolerance but are generally racist as hell.
MAAA - Make Advertising Awesome Again

Achilles said...

The brand for Toyota is utility and value.

The brand for Jaguar is status and style.

This branding F'up will be much more damaging to Jaguar than it would be to other car companies.

Wilbur said...

According to some, you are what you drive.

You've done perfectly well, better than most. Some don't get it.

Anthony said...

From Shaguar to Faguar in 25 short years. . . . .

RCOCEAN II said...

Looks like the new ad campaign is due to Jaguar stopping production of its current land rovers and sports cars. They aren't selling to men who want to an expensive "macho" toy but will now sell electric SUV's. The expensive handbag crowd.

Eva Marie said...

When they got rid of the cat, it was over.

Iman said...

The people will say Ta-Ta to Jaguar.

rehajm said...

I have a land rover and volunteered for a JLR consumer advisory panel many months ago. It’s been fun and I think they really use the input to shape the brands. I’ve expressed my usual unfiltered opinions on fsd and ev in what I believed to be constructive ways. All was good then I noticed a couple weeks ago this campaign we were asked to comment on. Now I’m not being invited to participate in more activities…for some strange reason…

cfs said...

If I were going to buy an automobile based on an advertisement, Jaguar would immediately be crossed off my list. Volvo, based on its latest ad would rise to the top of the list. Jaguar told me nothing about their car, but they did inform me that the people who work at their company are mentally unstable. That's a warning sign.

Volvo informed me the safety of me and my family was their top concern and they kept that in mind when manufacturing the car they want to sell me. To me, that is a great selling point.

Tortillapete said...

That was amazing - first grandchild due in less than a month!

TaeJohnDo said...

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Well, maybe not.

Iman said...

Subaru. Horrible advertising.

Iman said...

That’s been a brand that people who lease run from when their lease is up.

Scott Patton said...

Things like this remind me of the culture portrayed in the TV rendition of PK Dick "Jerry Was a Man". Or the culture in that one Hunger Games with that katnip character.

Lazarus said...

Maybe the point of the ad was to give the Giles Corens of the world a chance to play defenders of the middle class.

Iman said...

They used to advertise jars of Lucas Electrics Smoke which were sold to give your car an authentic, British smell.

Rabel said...

Good eye!

William said...

It definitely increased brand awareness. Jaguar changed from a brand that people seldom thought of to a brand that people are actively hostile to......I believe that Bud Light actually picked up sales among some small segment of the populace. Maybe that's the small segment that Jaguar is aiming for. Maybe the ad is fiendishly clever. It can't possibly be that the ad executives were that stupid. These people are experts at marketing and persuasion. They know what they're doing. Commenters here should show some deference to their wisdom.

Rabel said...

Great article but let's not be knocking Boney M.

Rusty said...

John, john, john. You don't buy a British sports car to drive! No that's a side benefit. You buy a British sports car to tinker with. Lucas electronics were made to teach you about circuits. They were never made to actually work.

RideSpaceMountain said...

If Citizens United vs. FEC is to be believed, then corporations are like people. And for people, especially heros, failing is a major archetype in Western Civilization as well as a major source of entertainment to the masses. People love watching other people fail, so to for Corporations. From gladiators in the arena to corporate flubs like Coca Cola's New Coke, the excitement isn't always watching their fall but the possibility they might rise again, such as when they brought back Coca Cola Classic, or the wrestler regains his footing after being a second or two from going down to the count.

Bud Light-in-the-loafers and Gayguar are not good examples of this phenomenon.

Ampersand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kirk Parker said...

Then there was that time I bought some counterfeit Lucas headlights in juba.

Q: who in the world would think it was a good idea to counterfeit Lucas products?

A Z: the Chinese!

gilbar said...

try to sell it instead to anorexic, teenage, intersex manga fans of colour..

my two cents..
Tata Motors (the Indian auto company that now owns Jaguar) has NO DESIRE to produce ANY cars in England (for OBVIOUS reasons)..
The ONLY reason they wanted Jaguar, was for the NAME..

My guess is: This is an INTENTION Plan to END the car company, and then make the name Jaguar into a queer fragrance brand. Think about it:
WHAT are they selling? CARS? or stinky?

gilbar said...

looks like they haven't made XKR's since 2006..
Jaguar announced that the F-Type will be discontinued after the 2024 model year.[8] Production ended in June 2024

gilbar said...

Tata has NO INTEREST in selling Jaguars.. They ONLY wanted the name.
IF there IS a new Jag, it will be like the new Triumph 400 (MADE IN INDIA)

gilbar said...

As my sister (proud owner of a TR-8) and her husband (proud owner of a TR-4) always said:
you KNOW why the british drink their beer warm? 'cause they have Lucas refrigerators

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The ad is just the obvious symptom but the EVP of marketing has the DEI disease deep in his brain. He appointed around 15 different DEI focused committees to rework the brand. More nonsense to follow. You can count on it.

JAORE said...

Lucas headlights have three settings: Dim, flicker and off.
In my youth, and poverty I owned Brit cars twice... Certainly NOT Jags which were beyond all but my dream state - the XKE was the most beautiful car I've ever seen. Both cars were .... sub-optimal.
"Bud Light actually picked up sales among some small segment of the populace."
Perhaps. But it was a very small segment garnered after jettisoning a very large segment.

who-knew said...

Jaguar announced last summer that they were essentially stopping production of all their cars. In the press release they claimed it was to get ready for going all electric in 2025 but it was really because sales had collapsed and they couldn't sell cars to anybody anymore. Even an ad this bad can't kill a company that's already dead.

gilbar said...

I just think that their appeal is becoming more selective.

who-knew said...

Thanks for reminding me of that movie. I loved all their proposed ads when I first saw it and still do. Especially the Volvo ad "Boxy but good"

who-knew said...

Q. Why do the British drink warm beer?
A. Because they have Lucas refrigerators.

gilbar said...

they are TRANSitioning into a different brand.. a clothing/fragrance brand for non-binary* people

non-binary*
there are TWO types of people in the world, those that know there are two types, and the others

Saint Croix said...

If you're going to be a racist, you shouldn't mention God, because God loves all his children. Even the hateful ones.

tcrosse said...

A college buddy fixed up a Triumph Spitfire which required constant care. He said it wasn't so much a Triumph as a pyrrhic victory.

Saint Croix said...

And she's acting in a Logan's Run remake.

Jupiter said...

As I understand the matter, most people finance their car. That is, they borrow money to pay for it. Bizarre. But anyway, do we really believe that people want an expensive car so bad they are ready to lease themselves into slavery to obtain it, but they are so indifferent to its design and quality that their choice is swayed by a television commercial?
I guess we do. Somebody paid TML to be an "advertising creative director for over 30 years". It's unquestionable that after ten years or so, they could have gotten someone else cheaper. They must have felt they were getting value, right?

loudogblog said...

I got the feeling from the ad that it was trying to be cutting edge, but instead turned out clichéd and derivative. It reminded me of something an art student might do as a school project. (And it definitely would not appeal to their core customers.)

loudogblog said...

There is such a thing as bad publicity and a lot of rich people will not want to be seen driving a Zoolandermobile.

NKP said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mikee said...

This outre' ad by Jaguar accomplished its purpose. It got people to think about Jaguar cars, if only in an adjacent manner to the ridiculous ad. Sort of like the topless waifs Abercrombie & Fitch used to sell their shirts, years back, or the Benneton colors - multiple ethnic models selling plaids. It isn't about the product, it is to get your attention under the name of the product, Jags, which have indeed become unregarded.

A friend brought his restored, 12 cylinder E type Jag convertible to my wedding for our entertainment, tooling around the neighborhood and taking pictures in our wedding finery. I almost bought a Jag to restore, but got a more practical used Ford F-150 instead. I do not regret my choice.

Saint Croix said...

Darwin's Racism of the Gaps

Joe Bar said...

Does it come with a "borrowed" oil painting in the boot?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Toyota’s CEO said the same thing and refused “to get that far ahead of where the market for cars is,” referring to stupid EV mandates.

Earnest Prole said...

To see how far we’ve fallen, check out Top Gear’s 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type.

NKP said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PM said...

Not just for older golfers anymore.

NKP said...

How do I add live link to a comment, here? Am I correct in believing pictures can't be posted as comments? Is there no longer a way to preview/edit comments before posting? Help, please...

jpg said...

They may have gotten the attention they wanted. I doubt they'll get the sales they need.

Wince said...

"NOW IS THE TIME ON SPROCKETS WHEN WE DANCE!!!"

doctrev said...

First of all, people who explore other cultures because they're disgusted with elite-driven filth are the opposite of racist. Second of all, sit on a tack. If the vast pressure of Wall Street and its corporations can't make me enjoy Beyonce and reimagined Little Mermaid, what chance do you think you have?

Rusty said...

How do you spell "Subaru"? Lesb......

David-2 said...

Are we doing British technology jokes now? Great! Here's my favorite (as a long-time software engineer):

Q: Why have the British never invented a great computer?
...
...
A: They can't figure out how to get one to leak oil!

David-2 said...

BTW: In the very early 80s I worked at a small software consultancy - owned by two men, who ran the place. One was the technical guy, the other was the marketing guy. The marketing guy had a Jag as his "company car". Lease was an astounding $500/mo IIRC. Anyway, one thing I _definitely_ recall correctly: He was kind of a joke in the office because he was constantly begging rides off us (much poorer) engineers: His cool company car was always in the shop.

urpower said...

Jaguar has been dead for years, kept on life support as an upscale SUV company. It lost money for decades as a 'conservative' brand.

effinayright said...

Let's recall that Jaguars have always had a reputation of being "the mechanic's friend."

Saint Croix said...

You call our culture "negrified," as well as "hideously ugly." And now you're saying you're not racist because you have a Japanese fetish?

Beyonce happens to love our culture, and she's a really interesting artist, in my opinion.

And it's not like you can run and hide in Japanese art and avoid the USA. We're a powerful influence on their culture, as they are on ours. Kurosawa remakes Shakespeare and Cowboy Bebop opens with a homage to African-American jazz.

I grant you the tentacle porn is 100% Japanese. You are welcome to it.

Saint Croix said...

This Jaguar ad reminds me of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Here they are, in Japan, fighting a minotaur. You are welcome, sir. Good luck with your white flight.

TickTock said...

The noise they wanted; not the noise they needed.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

It’s not a Tommy Hilfiger ad?

Aggie said...

I had a friend that swore that the straight 6-cylinder "E" was the superior driving sports car, and I've heard this from others, too. Maybe it was the weight balance.

Anyhow, he lovingly restored one, and on his very first drive, stopped at an intersection on a Houston feeder road and got rear-ended by a car full of Mexicans. I guess they may have been illegals, because they scattered. Car was reported 'stolen', but later, after the crash. No insurance could cover the damage, of course. Jaguar totaled, friend devastated.

Tofu King said...

Hi Bud Light marketing. This is Jaguar calling. We need some advice.

Peachy said...

hehehehe he

Peachy said...

Yes. The Pac-Man-mobile

Aggie said...

Looking at the various costumes, it occurs to me that they missed a trick by not including Dylan Mulvaney.

Justabill said...

That’s just sad.

Justabill said...

As a former Triumph owner, yes. A car that I could drive anywhere, but not necessarily home again.

Darkisland said...

In the early 70s I owned a H-D Sportster. It required 90 weight oil, which I bought a case at a time. H-D sold branded oil but I found a place that sold Bardahl for about half the price. I used at least a quart a week.

H-D sold a H-D logoed stainless steel oil drip pan.

Rather than fix their many problems, they made them "cool", part of the H-D experience.

I loved the scoot but it did take an awful lot of tinkering to keep it running.

John Henry