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Jaguar Drives Its Brand Off A Cliff
The management and marketing geniuses at Jaguar, the iconic car manufacturer, apparently under the impression that the transgender and LGBTQ+ market is enormous, have just released a commercial that they feel will bring thousands if not millions of new buyers to their brand. Perhaps these marketing geniuses were impressed with the self-immolation marketing effort of Bud Light linking their brand to Dylan Mulvaney. They could have also been influenced by any number of other advertisers like Gillette, Target, and others who have embraced the LGBTQ+ community in hopes of increasing sales and market share.
Or perhaps they’re actually nitwits who didn’t detect the shift in the zeitgeist that is rejecting the militant trans and LGBTQ+ agenda, as evidenced in the effectiveness of one of the Trump campaign’s last commercials that excoriated Kamala Harris for supporting the trans agenda. Yes, of course, this brilliant Jaguar campaign may have been in the works for several months, so the marketing team may have happily plowed ahead thinking that they were achieving something brilliant for the brand. Is the marketing calculation that heterosexual men who comprise most of the Jaguar target market and who desire a sports car, an SUV, or sports sedan, that can perform like a well-tuned race car on curvy country roads will somehow be influenced by a sullen-looking man in a dress holding a sledgehammer? Or are Jaguar sales about to get hammered?
Published in General
There’s something exhilarating about driving a car with a stick…not the faux automatic stick in most cars today. When you drive a manual transmission car you have to be alert and know when to downshift and you get to know what the appropriate gear is for any driving condition, road, curve, incline. Someone who drives a manual is a frankly more conscious driver when being aware of one’s surroundings and sudden changes are required. I don’t think I could ever trust a self-driving car to perform as effectively especially in challenging conditions where a sudden change can be life threatening.
It is still believed by many people that New Coke was a deliberate scheme. It probably wasn’t, but still…
…
Dang it!
They switched over to high fructose corn syrup the year before New Coke. There was a change in the taste, or so I am told, since most of my Coke had rum in it at that point. The new New Coke was a more dramatic change.
A 1960s car didn’t need to be quicker than 2020s cars, it only needed to be quicker than other 1960s cars.
The managing director of Jaguar has responded to the criticism of the brand’s ad and new direction:
Sounds like someone needs a cuddle toy and a blankie.
I love driving a car with a manual transmission. Before any of you car guys get excited, I’ll just tell you that the last one I owned was a Nissan Cube. A silly car, an ugly car, but I loved it (you could get six hay bales in the back, if you put the back seat down). If only it had AWD, I’d be driving it still. But after Mr. She died I needed to drop down to a single car, and AWD was a requirement because of the winters out here.
When we bought the Cube, in 2009, I remember it was at a “tent sale” at the local Nissan dealership, for a ridiculously low price. “But it’s a manual transmission,” the salesman worried. “Let’s take a test drive,” I suggested. “Wow,” he said. “You really do know how to drive with a manual transmission. You wouldn’t believe the number of women [LOL] who say they know how to, but can’t.”
So funny. My first exposure to such a thing was with a Datsun F10 (The Ugliest Car in the World) in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It’s a fond memory between my stepdaughter and me, who says that the experience was like the “roller coasters at Kennywood” (a local amusement park.). As I said in the post, I’ll always be grateful to the lovely men who let me drift backwards onto their bumpers so that I could get some purchase, and start myself up the hill (of which there were many).
Shoot, if I had known you like driving a stick, I would have offered to let you drive Wildfire when we went to Skipsul’s daughter’s wedding.
There’ll be another day. I’m pretty sure about that.
For the record we still have three M/T cars and of course the motorcycles. (There are some automatic and semi automatic motorcycles now.)
We have two newer cars with autos and I have to admit recent autos don’t stink like in the past.
And a diaper change.
Yes, when bumpers were designed to accommodate such g0od deeds.
Well, on the theory that “all publicity is good publicity” I think Jaguar (JAG-you-uh) might have won.
FIFY
I approve the revision!
Well…Budweiser proved that theory wrong.
Driving or parking a new 2025 or 2026 Jag EV (if they ever come out) in a Muslim country could be quite risky.
If Jag EVs do come out, they might be fairly popular in West Hollywood or the Bay Area.
Brand messaging done right:
Well, in San Francisco, they’re likely to be broken into or carjacked.
Newsflash: Budweiser in the US isn’t Jag in the UK.
I don’t think the Jag EV, or its advertising campaign, is targeted for a Muslim country. I think it’s targeted for the West. What’s interesting about the West is the dichotomy between those who insist that the predominance of the minority (particularly the vaunted “trans community”) is so tiny that it shouldn’t matter at all in the general population, versus those actually in that community who’d like to make make their presence a disruptive influencer amongst all the rest of us, no matter how few they actually represent. That’s the real challenge.
Newsflash: America has traditionally been a huge market for Jaguar.
Newsflash: The USA website for Jaguar is prominently featuring this new woke campaign.
Newsflash: Jaguar has every intention of selling their new EVs in the Middle East. They removed the man in the dress holding the sledgehammer for Middle Eastern websites and other outlets.
Newsflash: Read more news.
Sure. They want to sell something in the Middle East. Convince me that what they want to sell in the Middle East is ELECTRIC cars, then perhaps we’ll have something in common.
Imagine my surprise.
Also…not sure Brits are responding enthusiastically to the new brand messaging either…and given that the Caliphate of Britain has a sizable Muslim community, my guess is that they’re not terribly enthused either.
What I said.
Well, considering that Jaguar is only going to be making electric vehicles and that they intend to sell to wealthy buyers in the Middle East, I’m not entirely sure why you seem so smug.
BTW – Your geolocation-centric response re: Budweiser in America not being Jag in the UK that “all publicity is good publicity” is lame because it demonstrates that you’re incapable of admitting that you’re wrong when the Budweiser example immediately disproved the hackneyed theory about all publicity being good. You might want to give it a rest.
Please expose whatever it is you’re basing my “geolocation-centric” response on. I’m fascinated to know the basis.
It’s electric or nothing from Jaguar, unless they radically change their plans. They have already stopped building every model that has an internal combustion engine. Unless they have been pulling everyone’s leg, they are committed to electric-only vehicles going forward. I’ve been reading articles about this for months and none suggest that Jaguar will still build gasoline- or Diesel-powered cars for any market.
Happy to.
You: Well, on the theory that “all publicity is good publicity. I think Jaguar (JAG-you-uh) might have won.
My response: Well…Budweiser proved that theory wrong.
Your response: Newsflash: Budweiser in the US isn’t Jag in the UK.
My comment: This has nothing to do with Budweiser proving the theory wrong.
And the use of “Newsflash” is condescending that deserved a “Newsflash” response.
I’d have cut this comment short, if it weren’t impossible to do so without the Ricochet “Quote Monster” making it awkward to do so. So here we go:
You’ve pretended to some knowledge of my “geolocation.” That has a specific meaning on the Internet.
You’ve pretended that my “geolocation” is, somehow, related to, influencing, and driving my opinion on this matter.
I have asked you to provide evidence as to why–in your opinion–my “geolocation” is at all important here. I’m happy that you should reveal it. Please do. If you can’t, or won’t, then I’ll dismiss your argument.
Your response to everything else is that you really can’t say, that Budweiser in the US isn’t Jag in the UK (ya think?) and that you think something else, and that I am somehow condescending to you by having a different opinon.
Sorry.
Try again.
My reference to geolocation has absolutely nothing to do with your location. I couldn’t care less where you are. It refers to your strange unresponsive comment that Budweiser in the US is not Jaguar in the UK to my comment about Budweiser disproving that “all publicity is good publicity” and that fact that your response that the two companies in different geo-located countries must somehow counter or disprove my comment.
But your paranoia is duly noted.