The world of advertising went crazy–or woke, anyway–a few years ago. Obese, unattractive models; “body positivity”; trans spokesmen; rampant political correctness. A reaction has been under way for a while, as companies like Budweiser and Target have been punished by customers for portraying a woke image. The current American Eagle jeans campaign is widely (and correctly) seen as a milestone in the return to normal advertising standards.
Another blow against woke advertising was struck yesterday, when Jaguar Land Rover announced the retirement of its CEO after a stint of only three years:
In his three years as chief executive, Adrian Mardell, 64, has overseen both its strongest profit levels in a decade and a controversial rebrand when the company ditched its “growler” logo and promoted its shift to electric vehicles.
You may recall Jaguar’s ill-fated ad campaign, which featured weird, androgynous models and no cars:
The campaign, with which Mardell was closely associated, was relentlessly mocked. But Jaguar has a deeper problem than a misbegotten attempt to go woke. After decades of making great, powerful cars, the company has announced a shift to an all-electric lineup. The timing, in my view, couldn’t be worse. Automobile companies across the world are losing their shirts on electric vehicles, for good reason. EV technology is, I think, essentially obsolete. EVs lost out to internal combustion cars more than 100 years ago, and I expect them to lose out again.
That problem will be a lot harder to recover from than a disastrous marketing campaign.
