Hey Jaguar… woke up! (Part 1)
Image credit: Jaguar
When wokeism is your lifeline, I guess we could say you’re already dead… right?
Let’s be real—it’s no surprise when a company suddenly veers off course, turning its back on decades of carefully constructed brand values. But what is surprising is when they do it so abruptly and against the grain of their loyal customer base.
Everyone’s been talking about Jaguar’s teaser and new models, but not enough people are discussing the sales decline. And honestly? That has more to do with their current identity crisis than with any promise of change.
Jaguar’s target audience isn’t the multiracial, colorful, and gender-fluid crowd their new campaign is shouting about. No, their core demographic is that old-fashioned money. The kind of money that, like everything else, has an expiration date.
I can’t exactly picture a 70-year-old English gentleman flaunting his new pink Jaguar with a non-binary person riding shotgun.
Now, I can imagine his heir inheriting that fortune and figuring out how to spend it—but it’s pretty clear it won’t be on a car that smells like worn leather. Like it or not, that’s the reality.
I can also picture this new heir trying to break free from the shadow of their father or grandfather—the architects of that shiny fortune—by buying a woke Jaguar and parking it in front of some exclusive city nightclub for the rich and famous.
On the other hand, there’s this: we still don’t fully understand the new wave of wealth on the horizon. You know, those crypto millionaires who’ve built fortunes in just a few years and are eager to spend it—loudly and publicly, especially on social media, unlike the more discreet generations before them.
Jaguar isn’t a new brand, but they are on the hunt for a new target. Sure, their campaign has been criticized for being too woke, but not much has been said about the people who actually support it.
Not all publicity is good publicity—and this campaign is proof. But here’s a question: have we really taken the time to understand what this new audience wants? Because it sure looks like those thousands and thousands of likes are coming from people who do appreciate this fresh direction.
Image credit: Jaguar
Once again, it seems important to ask what people actually want, instead of assuming that if it doesn’t appeal to us, it must not appeal to anyone.
This is Part 1. Beyond speculating about this new direction, Jaguar is a brand that has understood its customers—for nearly 100 years. In Part 2 (probably sometime in 2025), we’ll dive into their sales figures and finally see if this was just a woke alert… or if the world has truly changed, and we’re the ones who didn’t get the memo.