Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company is going to “try advertising” after years of resisting the idea and even saying that he “hates advertising”.
For years, Musk has famously said that he despises advertising. He said that Tesla doesn’t pay or provide discounts for celebrities to drive its cars and that the automaker doesn’t pay to advertise – though we have seen exceptions before.
Tesla fans and investors have often suggested that the company at least try it, but the CEO was always pushing back against the idea – going as far as saying that he “hates” advertising:
However, he always was open to the idea of Tesla eventually getting into advertising when the company would be “selling vehicles in higher volume”.
It looks like Tesla might be there right now because when an investor brought up the idea at Tesla’s annual shareholders meeting today, the CEO was way more open to the idea and even said that Tesla would try advertising:
“We will try a little advertising and see how it goes.”
He made it sound like it would be on a trial period and before making the comment, he made it clear that he wasn’t impervious to the irony of him poke fun at other automakers for years for heavily relying on advertising to sell cars.
Some automakers spend as much as $4,000 per vehicle sold in advertising.
Musk always said that Tesla uses money that other automakers spend on advertising to improve its products instead:
Tesla does not advertise or pay for endorsements. Instead, we use that money to make the product great.
But it might be time for Tesla to see if it can efficiently spend money on advertising to create demand for its vehicles as it has instead relied on cutting prices this year in order for demand to keep up with its increased production capacity.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.