Woke backlash has struck yet again and this time it’s among car giants Jaguar Land Rover who are currently on the search to replace their advertising agency after its controversial rebrand. Jaguar’s rebrand video went viral for all the wrong reasons back in December last year and were criticised for their new look which was described as “the biggest change in Jaguar’s history – a complete reinvention for the brand”. Despite the Jaguar vehicle being noticeably absent in the brand’s new relaunch video, other iconic brand images were left out too, including Jaguar’s classic leaping-cat icon.
This was replaced with futuristic pink moonscape images, dotted with boulders and included a cast of diverse and eccentrically-dressed models. The result of this rebrand, however, was met with harsh backlash with many devoted Jaguar Land Rover lover’s not shy about their dismay towards the car company, resulting in Jaguar now launching a review for a new global creative account.
Months after Jaguar Land Rover faced backlash over its controversial rebrand, so the hunt for a new creative account has been announced.
The Telegraph reported the review will be looking to replace their account, currently held by Accenture Song, including its in-house agency, Spark44 until mid-2026, after its widespread criticism it faced including that from Elon Musk and Nigel Farage.
Musk commented on X on Jaguar’s new look asking: “Do you sell cars?” with British MP Nigel Farage also declaring his dismay with the new branding posting on X and declaring how the company deserved to go bust.
The brand overhaul didn’t end there either, as the company also announced plans to shift to electric vehicles and were also abandoning their iconic “growler” cat badge and now using a curved geometric J and L symbol instead.
But despite their best efforts to appeal to all, the results were met with loss particularly among its sales which plunged by more than 25% in 2024.
The brand also recorded selling 33,320 cars in the same year – a stark drop from the 61,661 that were sold in 2022 and 161,601 sold in 2019.
Dr Martina Olbert, founder and CEO of Meaning said: “Jaguar is trying to be super cool in an empty and therefore extravagantly visual way by jumping at overt DEI visual language,” observed
But despite the harsh criticism, JLR’s Managing Director Rawdon Glover continued to defend the campaign saying to the Financial Times that “iIf we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out.”
The news that Jaguar are severing relationships with their creative agency has sent shockwaves through the automotive industry.
The company recently said the review however, was not linked in any way to the backlash of the re-brand.
Farage has been vocal about his “woke” views even declaring “Go woke, go broke!” with Jaguar not being the only brand to feel the burn from a new creative direction.
Most notably Bud Light was in similar hot water after its new rebrand attempting to appeal to all including using transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney as the new face of the popular drinking brand with results seeing a significant drop in Bud Light sales with some even prompting a widespread boycott campaign towards the major brand.
Jaguar Land Rover and Accenture Song were contacted for comment.