Photo: YouTube screenshot, modified
Tesla always had a love-hate relationship with the automotive media, and it came to an abrupt end in October 2020, when the PR department was dissolved. The decision is definitive, Elon Musk says.
Tesla’s apparent disdain for the media was so great that the disappearance of its PR department hasn’t been confirmed to this day. It is perhaps the first time that CEO Elon Musk acknowledges it, and only to say that the decision is definitive. There is simply no need for a PR dept because he says Tesla is not in the habit of manipulating its customers.
Musk has never made a secret of his opinion of several media outlets and journalists or his general belief that the media will generally run incomplete stories, clickbait titles, and over-sensationalized claims just to get revenue or, even worse, to get back at Tesla for whatever perceived wrong. It seems that the most recent Tesla crash, the fatal Texas accident, which police attributed to no one being in the driver seat when it happened, has convinced Musk that the company can do very well without PR.
When one of his followers urged him to reconsider re-instating the PR Department, the self-titled “Technoking, Imperator of Mars” pointed to the uselessness of it, even if it was to hire just one person. “Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product,” he wrote. “I trust the people.”
The “people,” in this case, are the ever-loyal Tesla community of owners and supporters, who will gladly and willingly go to war against any company or individual for whatever reason. They help spread the good news and mitigate the bad news and are allowed to interact directly with Musk via Twitter.
Without a doubt, Tesla has forged an unprecedented carmaker-customer relationship over the years, and as we discussed at a time, in terms of sales, it doesn’t need the media right now. But as the Tesla supporter pointed out to Musk, it might need it one day, given its expansion plans.
Musk has never made a secret of his opinion of several media outlets and journalists or his general belief that the media will generally run incomplete stories, clickbait titles, and over-sensationalized claims just to get revenue or, even worse, to get back at Tesla for whatever perceived wrong. It seems that the most recent Tesla crash, the fatal Texas accident, which police attributed to no one being in the driver seat when it happened, has convinced Musk that the company can do very well without PR.
When one of his followers urged him to reconsider re-instating the PR Department, the self-titled “Technoking, Imperator of Mars” pointed to the uselessness of it, even if it was to hire just one person. “Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product,” he wrote. “I trust the people.”
The “people,” in this case, are the ever-loyal Tesla community of owners and supporters, who will gladly and willingly go to war against any company or individual for whatever reason. They help spread the good news and mitigate the bad news and are allowed to interact directly with Musk via Twitter.
Without a doubt, Tesla has forged an unprecedented carmaker-customer relationship over the years, and as we discussed at a time, in terms of sales, it doesn’t need the media right now. But as the Tesla supporter pointed out to Musk, it might need it one day, given its expansion plans.
Other companies spend money on advertising & manipulating public opinion, Tesla focuses on the product.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2021
I trust the people.
???????? exactly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2021
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