In the wake of Jaguar’s latest woke advertisement that has garnered substantial backlash on social media, the Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo released a new ad with polar opposite messaging. While Jaguar attempted to reshape its brand image with a strange and unusually artsy commercial that didn’t even feature a single car, Volvo just came out with an overtly pro-family ad.
The commercial features a man speaking with his mother, informing her that she will be a grandma as his partner is pregnant. The ad highlights the various emotions he is experiencing in preparing for the birth of his daughter, from the anxiety of stepping into the responsibilities of parenthood to the beauty and excitement of going through life with children.
Amid this whirlwind of change, Volvo positions itself as the car of choice this family will rely on during their transition into the next stage of life, showcasing the new EX90 model. As a result, conservatives have praised the ad, explaining that the Swedish auto company has properly assessed the current rejection of woke companies.
In contrast, Jaguar appears to have not paid attention to other major corporate controversies, such as the Bud Light fiasco of 2023 and countless other companies that have reckoned with consumer backlash over woke initiatives. The American Tribune recently reported on the strange ad from Jaguar that has incited significant push back from conservatives, writing:
In what might go down as a Bud Light-tier bad move, British car manufacturer Jaguar released a horribly out of touch, woke ad that horrified viewers on X (formerly Twitter), and led to immense backlash in the comments section, with the carmaker savaged for what critics contended was an obscenely woke and weird ad.
The ad, “Copy Nothing,” features no cars. Instead, it consists entirely of an ensemble of oddly attired individuals with shocking makeup and haircuts. Like many woke advertisements, it appears to be meant to stun normal people as a way of building more social cache for the brand. It just led to much anger and mockery online, however.
Watch the new Volvo ad here:
Furthermore, Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover gave an interview to the Financial Times, where he doubled down in defense of the commercial. He blamed the backlash on “a blaze of intolerance” on social media. Glover also claimed that the ad wasn’t meant to be “woke” asserting that it received “very positive” feedback elsewhere.
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He further lamented what he described as the “level of vile hatred and intolerance” toward the commercial. Explaining the motivation behind the weird ad, Glover said, “If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand.” The managing director continued, “We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently. We wanted to move away from traditional automotive stereotypes.”
However, others noted that this strategy may not play out as intended. A former advertising executive who formerly worked with Jaguar told the Financial Times, “You can destroy a brand in 30 seconds that took a lifetime to build. Strong brands reinvent themselves but always remain true to the core of their DNA. For luxury brands in particular, authenticity is key and this fails the test.”
Watch the Jaguar ad below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.