Jaguar is among the most iconic car makers in history. Responsible for some of the most coveted and beautiful designs ever made, such as the legendary XKE, its reputation has long been envied by other manufacturers. Sure, the electric components, particularly in earlier Jags, had an annoying habit of spectacular failure, but compared with the flowing lines and racing success of the brand, enough people were willing to put up with that inconvenience to keep Jaguar profitable.

Automakers, particularly niche makers like Jaguar, succeed by offering ever-increasing performance while keeping the traditional styling elements that made the brand. But there are always people willing to fix what isn’t broken, and in November of 2024, Jaguar’s Chief Creative Officer decided to “create” a new Jaguar by releasing a daring and incomprehensible 30-second commercial announcing his brilliant rebranding:

Graphic: X Post

So bizarre were the unsmiling, apparently alien mutants in the ad, which didn’t feature a single Jaguar vehicle, and so garish the production values, Elon Musk, who knows a thing or two about cars and marketing, asked:

Graphic: X Post

Jaguar PR mutants responded that they did, in fact, sell cars: 

“Yes. We’d love to show you. Join us for a cuppa in Miami on 2nd December? Warmest regards, Jaguar.”

Jaguar even redesigned its iconic logo:

Graphic: X Post

That didn’t impress anyone either:

Everyone — except, it seems, the top executives at the iconic British sports car and luxury vehicle maker Jaguar Land Rover — saw this coming. According to The Telegraph, Gerry McGovern, the chief creative officer behind Jaguar’s controversial “woke” rebrand,  was reportedly “escorted from his office” on Monday after more than two decades with the company.

McGovern’s inglorious dismissal came just days after PB Balaji, the former chief financial officer of Tata Motors, which owns JLR, took over as chief executive officer.

The company’s previous CEO, Adrian Mardell, who oversaw the rebrand, announced his retirement in August after JLR reported a 97.5% plunge in sales.

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This was among the kinder comments on Jaguar’s apparent descent into psychoactive drug madness:

Before refreshing his reader’s memories of this unfortunate ad, blogger Ace of Spades amusingly wrote: “Think different you guys. … Challenge everything you guys. … Cut your genitals off you guys. … In case you have managed to forget this Gender Apocalypse Meth Nightmare, here’s your reminder.”

Forbes was also among the kinder commentators:

Forbes reported at the time that the ad was widely mocked on Instagram as well. “Nearly all the top-liked Instagram comments on Jaguar’s post are critical, with the top comment, liked more than 13,000 times, claiming the company ‘killed a British icon.’” Indeed, they did.

The Daily Mail reported that the man who produced the ad, Santino Pietrosanti, was a “BLM-supporting executive from New York who lives with [his] Scottish husband and their cockapoo Mia.”

How did Jaguar respond?  It blamed the motoring public:

But, rather than course correct, Rawdon Glover, the managing director of the Jaguar brand, brushed off the criticism as “vile hatred and intolerance.” He told the Financial Times, “We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently.”

Still, it was an epic marking debacle that outstripped even Bud Lite’s implosion.

The rebrand didn’t just confuse consumers — it alienated them.

This marketing blunder — extraordinary in both its predictability and its repercussions — is poised to take its place among the era’s most instructive corporate missteps, a case study future business students will analyze for years.

Whether this will be enough will be up to the small, but previously sufficient, portion of the public willing to buy a Jaguar. I’m unaware of any company that has ever come back from losing 97.5% of its sales, but that’s going to depend on the new vehicles Jaguar might produce and more conventionally market.

Interestingly, should Jaguar totally fail, the prices commanded by classic sports cars like the XKE are going to skyrocket. Somehow, I don’t think that’s what Jaguar had in mind, if anything at all.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.