The American multinational auto major Ford Motor Company recently released an advertisement on its Youtube channel which seems to take a dig at the world’s richest man Elon Musk who is also the CEO of the largest EV manufacturing company Tesla Inc. The new minute-long ad campaign was aired at the annual American horse race – The Kentucky Derby and in the video, it appears that in a few scenes a voiceover takes some subtle jabs at the Tesla and SpaceX Chief Elon Musk.
The first scene of the video shows a person scrolling through a smartphone, followed by a man speaking in a voiceover saying, “right now it could seem like the only people who matter are the loudest—the ones who want to tear things down, and they fly away on their own personal spaceships when things get hard,” The video then goes on to show a rocket ship launching which apparently is a poke at the Tesla CEO who is also the head of SpaceX – the provider of space transportation services. The opening scene can also be interpreted as a shot at Elon as he is obsessed with space exploration.
In the following scenes, the commercial then shifts its focus towards praising the efforts of Ford Motor Company employees by saying that its workforce of 182,000 people is building “big things, new things” and “things that will change the way we do things.” Ford with this new ad campaign also vaunted the achievement of producing more vehicles than any other automaker in the United States of America along with the announcement of its 50 billion dollars commitment to electric mobility.
A spokesperson from Ford elaborated on the ad by saying, “The goal of the ad campaign is to celebrate all workers, beginning with Ford, which employs more hourly workers in the United States and assembles more vehicles in America than any other automaker,” He further added that the approach “is about using spaces that typically idolize tech gurus, CEOs, and celebrities to elevate our everyday builders and makers.”
The advertisement by Ford taking these jabs at Elon did not appear out of the blue, it has appeared as the American carmaker is aiming to chase down the Musk-led Tesla Inc. in the EV market. Currently, Tesla is the largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the US and now the entry of these mainstream automakers is an attempt to dethrone the market leader by flooding the EV market with tons of new all-electric models.
This is also not the first time that an automaker has thrown Elon under the bus. Earlier manufacturers like Polestar, a Swedish electric vehicle startup, have also inflicted some direct shots at the Tesla CEO. The company in a Super Bowl ad called “No Compromises,” stated the phrase “no conquering Mars” as part of a wider list of terms that acted as a guarantee of techniques it would not pursue. The ad attempted to mock the SpaceX chief who has previously shared his thoughts about colonizing Mars.
Keyword: Ford advertisement takes a potshot at Elon Musk and Tesla Ford advertisement takes a potshot at Elon Musk and Tesla