Jaguar, the producer of luxurious automobiles, is recently in the middle of a social media controversy due to its latest rebranding advertisement. The thirty-second advertorial, which has models dressed in bright clothes, thus not even revealing the company’s automobiles, has come under heavy criticism from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, among others. The ad in question, along with the famous marketing phrases like “create exuberant,” “live vividly,” or “delete ordinary,” has drawn quite a lot of debate, and many viewers–including myself–are not very sure what direction the brand is headed.

Tesla Board of Directors member Elon Musk, who is not shy on social media, addressed the advert directly with the question, “Do you sell cars?” This sarcastic remarked fuelled a flood of reactions, Jaguar tried to ease tension by offering Musk to meet having a cup of tea in Miami on the 2nd of December. This raised eyebrows among industry professionals and consumers due to the failure of the symbol to match the actual product being sold by the company.

However, art director Joseph Alessio was not shy about his passion for the campaign. He shared: “This is going hurt the rebranding campaign and will be taught in schools of how NOT to rebrand.” His comment summed up the feelings of many who viewed the ad as confusing and unrelated to Jaguar, a car maker brand of high-end automobiles. People on social media offered their own opinions on the advertisement; one of them said, “Umm, where are the cars in this ad?” Is this for fashion?” These responses can be bookmarked by Jaguar’s attempt to quiet such comments by appealing to the public to view the advert as a declaration of the company’s intention that was in sharp disregard of the impression given by the advert.

The backlash went on, and another user came in and said: Jaguar took a year off for this? This is how companies fail.” While the brand tried to sell it as ‘not the end but the new beginning,’ the vast majority were disappointed that they did not see their iconic vehicles at the center of the campaign. The ad was easily dismissed as awful by critics, with commentators asking if the commercial was intended to restore what they saw as a deteriorating brand image. Indeed, Jaguar would continue to insist that what had happened into the latter part of the 20th century was in fact a ‘renaissance’.

However, the car manufacturing company Jaguar has not bowed to pressure to change its new direction even with the continued lousy reception. Threats have been answered in the same manner as other criticisms – such as arguing that the campaign is a progressive move for the company. However, lack of cars in an advert made for a car company has left many industry analysts and consumers puzzled. This brings some issues about abstract marketing techniques in an industry, whose base mostly revolves around product promotion.

While the debate is still ongoing, market analyzers are observing this particular campaign keenly in the way it will impact Jaguar’s brand image and, consequently, its sales in the future. The luxury car market is rather tense, and any failures connected with branding are weighing heavily. It is either sheer blasphemy or sheer genius that Jaguar made a conscious decision to go against the grain of conventional automobile advertising in this case. As with all ‘edgy’ marketing so time will tell whether this campaign takes Jaguar to new heights or whether it will feature as a classic ‘how not to’ in business history books.

They both highlight the role of societal and online networks in influencing perception and the impact that aspirational reborn brands confront when trying to reposition themselves today. With Jaguar being in this storm of criticism, the companies flexibility in regards to consumer input will be imperative. In the next couple of weeks, more events will likely take place as Jaguar struggles to define its future and regain the consumers’ attention as more and more people pay attention to it with the help of both social networks and media.