Elon Musk reverses course and says Tesla will advertise its cars May 16 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) boss Elon Musk, who has never used traditional advertising to sell cars, said on Tuesday that the automaker would try it and see if it produces results.
Elon Musk said it is “ironic” that as CEO of Tesla, he now owns Twitter. The social media platform is heavily reliant on ads and will soon be headed by advertising veteran Linda Yacarino, whom it hired last week.
So I guess I should say the ad is awesome, and everybody should do it,” Musk said at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas. “We’ll try to do a little advertising and see how it goes.
It underscores his efforts to boost investor confidence in the carmaker’s prospects at a time when increased competition and a slowing economy have forced Tesla to slash prices.
Since Musk acquired Twitter in October, advertisers have abandoned the social media platform, concerned that their ads could appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost about 80% of its employees.
Elon Musk opposed the idea of advertising for years, tweeting in 2019 that he “hated advertising” and “we use that money to make the product great.
But on Tuesday, he said not many people know about the affordability of Tesla cars and their “amazing” features and functionality.
”Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk, who has never used traditional advertising to sell cars, said on Tuesday that the automaker would try it and see whether it produced results.”