Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard some of the hubbub surrounding Jaguar’s rebranding. Much of the marque’s fanbase is aggravated by a marketing move that they consider “too woke” or an affront to the brand’s legacy and history. Either way, Jaguar is in the conversation. Maybe not for the best reasons, though.

Fans are hopping mad at the loss of the ‘Leaper’ Jaguar logo and the brand’s dramatic refresh

“Create exuberant. Live vivid. Delete ordinary. Break moulds. Copy nothing.” These are the context-free words that flashed across the screen as brightly-clad actors did everything but reveal a car. It took just 30 seconds, but Jaguar unveiled a video that angered and divided much of its fanbase. Not just that, but in the vein of “deleting ordinary,” the brand deleted all of its Instagram pictures in favor of a small collective of question-inducing images. 

One of the common comments on social media is along the lines of “Go woke, go broke.” And much of the typical commentary follows that theme. One commenter on the YouTube video “Copy Nothing” left a response that read “Jaguar’s pronouns are Was/Were.” Another viewer said, “This will go down as one of the worst marketing decisions in history.” Strong words, indeed.

Unsurprisingly, the habitually critical Tesla CEO Elon Musk had something to say on the subject. In a cheeky X post, Musk posed the question, “Do you sell cars?” to the 102-year-old British marque. While the controversial South African CEO’s critics expect frequent negative commentary, the video failed to show a single automobile. 

Still, not everyone is coming from a place of Jag love. Cars and Bids founder and automotive journalist Doug DeMuro claimed he had a “different take” on the rebranding. DeMuro starts by saying “It’s stupid and insane.” 

However, he then points out that traditional marketing hasn’t worked for the old-school British brand, either. “Remember when they were trying to sell cars using normal marketing? That didn’t work. For the first time in automotive history, people are talking about Jaguar.” He claims the brand hasn’t been this hot of a topic since the 1959 debut of the iconic E-Type. 

That said, the marque’s managing director, Rawdon Glover, claims the move wasn’t a “woke” one, per The Daily Wire. Glover’s defense of the dramatic moves seems to fall in line with disruption to create visibility. “If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand,” Glover told interviewers.

Interestingly enough, the criticism isn’t localized to the brand’s fans (or even its haters, for that fact). A former advertising executive at the brand concurred with the veritable avalanche of dissenting opinions online. “You can destroy a brand in 30 seconds that took a lifetime to build.” Or in the case of Jaguar, longer than the average lifetime.

Check out the controversial “Copy Nothing” video below.