Jaguar CEO Steps Down Months After Woke Rebrand Commercial Went Viral

The CEO of Jaguar is stepping down from his position not long after after the company went viral for an avant garde rebrand that many deemed ultra woke.

Adrian Mardell is reported to be retiring from his role after spending three decades at the luxury car company. The exec worked in finance for most of his tenure before stepping in to serve as CEO for the past three years, per a Reuters report. No reason was given for his upcoming departure.

An ad campaign for Jaguar sparked massive criticism online following its November release. The “Copy Nothing” campaign included a colorful commercial of people dressed in vibrant, outlandish outfits. The characters could be seen grabbing sledgehammers, painting over the camera lens, and striking poses as the music played.

Copy nothing. #Jaguar pic.twitter.com/BfVhc3l09B

— Jaguar (@Jaguar) November 19, 2024

One of the chief criticisms viewers have is that the ad doesn’t have any cars in it.

Instead, disjointed phrases such as “create exuberant,” “live vivid,” “delete ordinary,” “break molds,” and “copy nothing” appear on the screen.

Tesla founder Elon Musk responded to the ad, writing, “Do you sell cars?”

The social media account replied to many commenters questioning the ad, saying things like, “The story is unfolding. Stay tuned,” “We’re shifting gears, not our purpose,” and “Consider this the first brushstroke.”

The ad was part of a huge brand overhaul, which has been described as going in a new EV-only direction.

Managing director Rawdon Glover complained about the backlash during an interview with the Financial Times, saying the campaign messaging was drowned out in “a blaze of intolerance” on social media. Glover also claimed that the colorful new ad was not meant to be “woke.”

“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 said at the time, as The Daily Wire previously reported.

“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.”