Jaguar walks back woke ads that led to crushed sales — now invokes 1960s simplicity

Carmaker Jaguar has made an about-face in its advertising formula, now opting for simplicity after a disastrous woke ad campaign seemingly derailed sales just over a year ago.

In late 2024, the company dropped an ad that was widely criticized, mocked, and labeled “woke.”

‘Jaguars need to be beautiful.’

The ad featured a diverse cast of flamboyantly dressed androgynous actors — including a man in a dress — in an attack on the “ordinary.”

“We’re here to delete ordinary. To go bold. To copy nothing,” the tagline read.

Strangely enough, though, the commercial did not include a single image of a car, let alone a Jaguar.

The strange marketing campaign even drew ire from President Trump, who said last August, “Jaguar did a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement.”

The ad became infamous over the summer, months after its release, and was coupled with a devastating sales decline.

Now, the company is going in a different direction, drawing on its original Jaguar E-type that launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1961.

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With the tagline “Original then. Original now,” Jaguar seems determined to invoke classic car nostalgia with a set of three 30-second ads released earlier this week.

The ads seem like the company is simply extending an olive branch to possible customers, as it is not promoting anything new, but includes its concept car — the Type 00 — which was first announced at the end of 2024.

The first ad, titled “Spirit of Reinvention,” simply shows off its mid-1950s XKSS and 1975 XJ-S.

The second ad, “Bold Expression,” gives a nod to the classic Jaguar SS models, while the third ad, “Shocking the World,” shows a vertically hanging E-type while referencing its original release.

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Jaguar Type 00. Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images

The ads are a stark contrast from the previous campaign, which culminated with Jaguar Land Rover’s longtime CEO stepping down in July.

The resignation came after sales dropped 97% when comparing April 2025 to April 2024. Just 49 Jaguars were registered across Europe in April 2025, a massive decline from 1,961 the previous April.

The shocking downturn came after record profits just a few months before.

It remains unclear what the future holds for Jaguar, as it labels its new concept car as a “non-production vehicle,” but the Type 00 still seems to be the brand’s focus. According to Jaguar’s former designer Ian Callum, several different models were scrapped to make way for the new design.

“They were all taken away,” Callum said. “They were all stopped, and even the current cars were stopped.”

The Type 00 is now the future of the brand and is being used as “a statement,” he said. While Callum admitted the car is “bold” and “handsome,” it is not “beautiful.”

“And Jaguars need to be beautiful,” he added.

Readers should note that Jaguar Land Rover has been owned by Indian manufacturer Tata Motors since 2008.

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