The CEO of Jaguar is stepping down following a rebrand of the company that drew backlash for being too “woke.”
Adrian Mardell is retiring from his position after more than 30 years with the company, including three years as its chief executive, according to a report by Reuters. While Jaguar did not provide an official reason for Mardell’s retirement, his exit follows backlash from a controversial advertising campaign launched last November.
The campaign, titled “Copy Nothing,” featured a video ad showing unconventional-looking individuals in flashy outfits. Phrases like “create exuberant,” “live vivid,” “delete ordinary,” “break molds,” and “copy nothing” were on the screen as it played, and no cars were actually present in the ad.
The ad was mocked by some online for appearing more like a fashion campaign than an endorsement of the company’s vehicles.
“Do you sell cars?” Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked in a social media post reacting to the ad.
Jaguar’s own social media accounts responded cryptically to questions, posting messages such as, “The story is unfolding. Stay tuned,” “We’re shifting gears, not our purpose,” and “Consider this the first brushstroke.”
The ad was reportedly part of Jaguar’s attempt to rebrand itself as it transitions to an all-electric vehicle lineup. Rawdon Glover, managing director at Jaguar, defended the campaign in an interview with the Financial Times, calling the online criticism “a blaze of intolerance.”
“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 explained at the time. “We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently. We wanted to move away from traditional automotive stereotypes.”
