Photo: Tesla Live / YouTube screenshot
One of the many quirks of Elon Musk's company is that, unlike all other legacy carmakers, Tesla refuses to use paid advertising, relying instead on word of mouth and the media to spread the word and build up the manufacturer's image.
Considering Tesla is selling hundreds of thousands of cars each year, has three working plants and two more in construction, and, perhaps most importantly, is worth more than the next six or so car companies combined, you could say this strategy has paid dividends so far. So, why is Elon Musk suddenly considering the option of advertising?
Well, it looks as though all the negative media coverage is starting to irritate the Tesla CEO, so he feels the public has the right not to be misinformed about his company's products. And since the press can't do it on its own due to what Musk perceives as bias against Tesla - and since the company doesn't have a PR department to maintain a healthy relationship with the said press, we might add - the only remaining option is, well, paid advertising in one form or another.
At the moment, it's all just a thought Elon Musk let free on Twitter recently when discussing the great efficiency of the Tesla cars' HVAC systems. "Maybe we should advertise informationally just so people know stuff like this exists," Musk said. The initial talk, however, stemmed from a less flattering aspect: the heavy noise the AC makes in the Model S Plaid, something Musk promised would be resolved "soon" through an over-the-air software update.
What Musk doesn't perhaps realize is that advertising is much more regulated than Twitter is. For instance, you can't go ahead and say "[the Tesla air purification system] is literally 10X better than [that of] any other car" without having some very hard facts to prove it. You also can't talk about self-driving cars as freely either. Well, we may have just uncovered the real reason why Tesla doesn't do advertising: despite being a pretty morally questionable field, it's not shady enough to serve the company's interests.
Well, it looks as though all the negative media coverage is starting to irritate the Tesla CEO, so he feels the public has the right not to be misinformed about his company's products. And since the press can't do it on its own due to what Musk perceives as bias against Tesla - and since the company doesn't have a PR department to maintain a healthy relationship with the said press, we might add - the only remaining option is, well, paid advertising in one form or another.
At the moment, it's all just a thought Elon Musk let free on Twitter recently when discussing the great efficiency of the Tesla cars' HVAC systems. "Maybe we should advertise informationally just so people know stuff like this exists," Musk said. The initial talk, however, stemmed from a less flattering aspect: the heavy noise the AC makes in the Model S Plaid, something Musk promised would be resolved "soon" through an over-the-air software update.
What Musk doesn't perhaps realize is that advertising is much more regulated than Twitter is. For instance, you can't go ahead and say "[the Tesla air purification system] is literally 10X better than [that of] any other car" without having some very hard facts to prove it. You also can't talk about self-driving cars as freely either. Well, we may have just uncovered the real reason why Tesla doesn't do advertising: despite being a pretty morally questionable field, it's not shady enough to serve the company's interests.
Maybe we should advertise informationally just so people know stuff like this exists
— Elon Musk, the 2nd (@elonmusk) June 16, 2021
How is the cabin noise in a new Model S? Hear for yourself as the shop noise disappears when the door is closed.
— Tesla Raj (@tesla_raj) June 15, 2021
All you hear is the HVAC. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/3UxYdsQAmK
Google News