There was quite a funny bit of news this week when Jaguar released their new woke car advert that went down like a lead balloon among their core customer set and they were badly ridiculed mostly everywhere except on Bluesky.
I could imagine the ridicule this advert would get on Top Gear by Jeremy Clarkson who probably epitomises the brands core customer market. However, it also got me thinking that the suicide of this once famous brand is part of the ending of the Boomer era and Im not sure it is being replaced by anything much better if this advert is anything to go by.
The England of old is not so much to be found in the cities, but is/was still quite vibrant in the countryside as there is a big divide between city dwellers and countryside folk.
When on a stag hunt once, the country people were always laughing about how city people would come out to the countryside once a month or two months and start telling them how to live and then return to their cities.
This signalling of the ending of the Boomer era hit me quite hard when my father told me that someone affectionately called The General had passed away and the estate that my father lived on in a small cottage would then be sold. You get used to things and expect people and things to carry on as it used to always be.
Coming back to the Jaguar brand, my father received an old jag when his father passed away and I remember how much he cherished that old car. Part as memory of his father, but also the happiness and pride of driving a jaguar, even though it had connotations of someone being wealthy. He eventually parted ways with it as it became too expensive to repair and maintain.
Reaction to the new Jaguar advert
The new modern jags have followed that trend of some of the classic jags and have had the status symbol that you have more money than someone else, but I am not sure how that would continue now. Did Jaguar change direction because the old guard are disappearing and those values don't hold true anymore? Or are they still desirable?
Probably my favourite car advert is the Land Rover one for the Range Rover Sport where they climb the heavens gate. Now this is an amazing advert that really promotes the brand and although it was made 6 years ago, would something like this still be relevant today? Land Rover are another British brand and it remains to be seen if they will follow the same path as Jaguar.
I do like modern things myself, such as furniture, kitchens utensils etc., I guess that is a gen X thing what with the popularity of Ikea. However, my parents would never shop there and would have classic furniture made from solid wood, an open fire and a farmers style kitchen table.
I do appreciate those things though, it is a lovely novelty to visit them and drink tea in old style tea cups and keep warm in front of a fire instead of floor heating. When my parents visit, they cant stand the heat of modern houses, does this mean they are more rugged than us?
Will Jaguar stand by their rebranding or even survive it? It remains to be seen, but with the Boomer era ending, it looks like we are having a new start in many areas.
Thanks for reading.
Credits:
Title image created with image source. I do not own the copyrights of the shared videos, they are owned by their respective copyright owners and links shared as per youtube terms & conditions.
Let's connect : mypathtofire
I don't know which thing is more ridiculous, the advert name "Copy nothing" or the advert itself that has nothing to do with cars... It reminds me of those tampon commercials of girls jumping around... 😃
Speaking of copying, the moment when I saw that Jaguar SUV, the brand died for me... I didn't own a Jag, but it was always pleasant to see some British tourist driving an old Jag in Spain... That JAGUAR F-PACE looks like any other Korean SUV, so f-that "copy nothing" thing...
It's sad to see another British trademark dying...
It's a really bad advert that maybe has got a lot of attention, but not the good type. It's not like they are Ryanair and their brand just means cheap and nasty. It was a slap in the face to their core customer base and looks like the brand goes up in smoke, lucky to the guys who sold it to Tata!
My sister bought the FPace SUV and it looks and drives nice, but it didnt impress like their classic cars. I think it is a case to buy it to stand out and have a jaguar. I guess that won't work anymore!!
The Range Rover is still a great looking SUV though, the Discovery Sport with the off centre number plate at the back isn't, not sure why they did that.
Well, this reminds me of Nokia's CEO final speech where his words were "we didn't do anything wrong but somehow we lost" it's I think the fast changing society, leading to the death of some legendary brands.
I guess when the people running the companies change, then the brand changes too.
I would think thought that no matter who is in charge, the goal would be to sell cars. Not run the business into the ground.
It's very bizarre, the CEO came out defending the marketing guy, it seems they detached from reality. Guess my next car is Hyundai.
Thank you for contributing to the We Are Alive Tribe! Your post has been positively recognized and upvoted from the perspective of Alive Power. We truly appreciate your engagement and encourage you to keep sharing your thoughts, experiences, and insights with this supportive community. Your voice is valuable, and we look forward to hearing more from you! 🙂
Thanks Dr!
Jaguar E-type!! whooot - one of my favorite cars ever. Such a classic.
But that video? Straight up - weird. Got nothing to do with cars or - anything, really. Nice pop of colors - LOL
The Range Rover film up to Heaven's Gate is something else. To say it's steep is a total understatement.
It is a beautiful car and the engine sounds amazing. I love the way the bonnet opens up.
You would never catch me driving up the Heaven's Gate, that looked really scary, the driver has some serious skill. The Land Rovers are really nice and it is my wife's favorite car because it is so big!
You're not allowed to say anything that's not nice on Bluesky. According to Marina Hyde, it's heading straight for the purity spirals, followed by survival of the shittest. I can't believe everyone has just trooped from one thing to another.
Old-style Jags are lovely. Can't say about the later models (indeed, for all the advert, I understand there are no new Jags, production has been halted)? I agree with your commenter that it looks like a tampon advert.
I guess as we Boomers have squandered everything including the environment, no younger people can afford a luxury car.
I think production stops at the end of this year, even for their best selling FPace. My sister has an FPace and really likes it. I think they were planning to move back to the premium bracket with an all EV line up and maybe that was the thinking behind the advert.. certainly getting rid of the the jaguar on the bonnet and other such standouts from their brand was a mistake. My father was driving the XJ Sedan and it was really nice inside, I wasnt in the more modern ones though sadly.
I know its popular to blame the Boomers for everything, but my father said everything didn't just appear on your plate back then, you had to go out and work hard to achieve anything. I would say the environment is alot better than when it started, what has gone down hill are civic services maintaining the cleanliness of the streets and cities- a popular trend on youtube seems to be youtubers going to cities around the UK saying how badly run down it is and no one collects the rubbish or cleans the streets anymore-ironic considering how high taxes are.
Boomers did have to work and could get somewhere if we did. We had the best healthcare and nutrition of any generation before or since, free education to graduate level and affordable housing. Overall, we are the richest generation with average assets of about £500k. It's a very large aging cohort due to the baby boom after the 1939-1945 war. Families now are more modest and the birthrate has been falling for a long time - we have more people needing social care and less (younger) people to do the work and pay the taxes that funds the services.
The ravages to the environment are more to do with changes to agriculture and increased fossil fuel use, especially cars, but also freight going by road rather than rail or sea, plus central heating. Councils in the UK have had their budgets cut by 60% since 2010. Youtubers might like to look at the Barnet Graph of Doom, old now, but which highlights the challenges facing councils:
Street litter is a recent phenomonen to do with social and cultural habits and the increase in fast food and takeaway sectors. With councils (and NHS Trusts) going bankrupt, litter is a much lower priority than social care and statutory duties, most of which are about keeping vulnerable people alive and safe. It could be resolved by individuals changing their habits and putting their litter in bins/taking it home/not buying takeaways. In true Boomer fashion, don't get me started on people depositing chewing gum in the street 😂
I'm just wondering about the timing of the advert ... why now?
Very informative, and that certainly makes sense from the councils shifting priorities and duties. People's careless behaviour with regards the environment, litter and chewing gum also a pet hate of mine! Counteracted with councils removing bins and excessive charging to despose of waste easily and you have what you have.
Average assets of 500k will I presume pass on to GenXers and the question is what will they do with it? Keep the housing ponzi going or put it into harder newer assets like Bitcoin? (Most GenXers are on the housing ladder already). I was chatting to a Millenial last night who was bemoaning the crazy rental costs and getting on the housing ladder must be quite difficult right now.
I've noticed a very negative sentiment from the UK for a while though and it may be in a full depression, there seems far to many regulations, taxes and centralisation. The Pound Sterling could be reflecting the losing attractiveness of the UK's mismanagement. If I was younger, I would (again) abandon ship for brighter opportunities where you can get things done - the world is your oyster. With the digital economy and money, everything is up for grabs!
The Jaguar advert I think co-incides with their pivot to the premium market and EV only. Not sure they have go their target market for that right though!
😁
Never saw the ad. Funnily enough I used to love Jaguar for being and looking different. I remember when I had a burgundy XJS convertible it was a gorgeous car. But they went to shit when Ford bought them, now they are just bland crap. Not surprised users of bluesky didn't ridicule the woke ad! They will be thinking their core market reads the Guardian next!
I think you are right, once Ford took over, they crashed hard and now Tata who I think are the current brand owners have no idea what to do with the brand. Creating a luxury E Car that will be very expensive is their new goal, what could go wrong.
It was mentioned above that you cannot say anything bad on Bluesky. I presume it could lead to an instant ban.