The first rule of marketing is simple: know your audience. The second apparently needs to be a lot more basic, maybe something like: including the product in the pitch. The British luxury car brand Jaguar has violated both rules egregiously with their new ad spot and brand re-launch.
A colorful and strange commercial began circulating on social media this week and was met with derision almost immediately. The ad includes avant-garde people dressed in vibrant, outlandish outfits. The characters can be seen grabbing sledgehammers, painting over the camera lens, and striking poses as the music plays.
Disjointed phrases such as “create exuberant,” “live vivid,” “delete ordinary,” “break molds,” and “copy nothing” appear on the screen.
Copy nothing. #Jaguar pic.twitter.com/BfVhc3l09B
— Jaguar (@Jaguar) November 19, 2024
Tesla founder Elon Musk responded to the ad by echoing what so many others were saying, writing, “Do you sell cars?”
The official Jaguar X account replied to his question and many others by striking the same vague, cooler-than-thou tone. Some of their responses included, “The story is unfolding. Stay tuned,” “We’re shifting gears, not our purpose,” and “Consider this the first brushstroke.”
Customers were confused and dismayed that Jaguar would move in such a woke direction even as other brands pulled back from this type of advertising. It seemed obvious that no one was auditioning to be the next Bud Light train wreck.
Jaguar, meanwhile, is just days into their brand overhaul and is already facing heaps of criticism.
“Bye Jaguar, it was nice knowing you, to think, you were once the pinnacle of British motor engineering,” one person wrote.
“I’m not sure you all heard, but we aren’t doing that liberal artsy bullsh** anymore. Read the room,” a second person agreed.
Another reply said, “Didn’t you get the memo? Woke is dead. (And so is Jaguar, by the look of this turd).”
It’s also quite telling that Jaguar posted a tagline alongside the ad campaign that says “copy nothing.” The truth is, besides looking like a 90s United Colors of Benetton ad, this campaign is like every other woke product launch trying to look edgy. Petitioning to become crowned the wokest of them all is the opposite of unique – it’s tired, it’s played, and it’s especially puzzling now, at a time when so many brands have pulled back their overtly woke messaging as they realize it’s just not working.
Jaguar has a host of problems that a brand re-launch probably can’t fix. But one way to reconnect with their customers is a return to what made the car brand covetable in the first place. It wasn’t androgynous models wielding sledgehammers; it was fast, attractive sports cars.
Jaguar has already announced plans to phase out all gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles by 2025, so maybe the death knell is inevitable. If only they had called Black Jeremy to ask for advice before launching this laughingstock campaign.
Compare that kaleidoscope of nightmares to Jeremy’s debuting their redesigned 2nd Gen Razor with the “2nd Greatest Commercial Ever” – a follow-up to 2022’s “Greatest Commercial Ever.” It’s immediately obvious that Jeremy’s knows their audience and yeah, they even managed to mention an actual product during the ad. Both of these ads have been viewed millions of times and launched Jeremy’s Precision 5 Razor.
The video features Daily Wire’s co-CEO and god-king Jeremy Boreing, Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro, plus cameos from hosts Matt Walsh, Andrew Klavan, and Michael Knowles, taking aim at modern advertising tropes by introducing a new face for the e-commerce brand: Black Jeremy.
Played by actor and conservative personality Siaka Massaquoi, Black Jeremy replaces Jeremy Boreing as Daily Wire CEO to secure the purchasing power of liberal, white women at the urging of advertising “experts” giving the Jeremy’s Razors brand a DEI makeover.
Boreing joked on X at the time, “Woke corporations spend all of your money on DEI. We spent it on a better razor (and a blacker Jeremy). Introducing the Second Generation Jeremy’s Razor – radically redesigned so you can shave like a man, not a manifesto.”
The whole commercial is a parody of wokeness, unlike the Jaguar ad, which embarrassingly enough for them, seems to take itself very seriously despite looking like nothing but a joke.
Jeremy’s Razors just launched its NEW Women’s Razor with the hilarious ad below. Notice, the ad is not woke, and features the NEW Women’s Razor. Even better, it has a 25% off deal right now, so you can purchase and save today, or get the perfect gift of a Women’s Deluxe Bundle, which includes a non-slip textured handle + five 5-blade razor refills infused with aloe & Argan oil, Moisturizing Shave Cream with Coconut Oil & Shea Butter, Moisturizing Body Wash with Coconut Oil & Shea Butter, Moisturizing Lotion with Collagen & Retinol, and 2 sticks of Aluminum-Free, Natural Deodorant in scent Waterlily & Minerals. Or stock up for a year’s worth of shaving at a 50% discount with Jeremy’s 1-Year Bundle!
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Jeremy’s Razors shares common ownership with The Daily Wire.