Tesla has cut its entire marketing team, which included a group of 40 advertising and marketing staff, just months after it was formed.
The move, which was reported by Bloomberg, comes amid wider company layoffs and marks a swift about-turn from CEO Elon Musk after he initially greenlit Tesla’s traditional advertising push less than a year ago.
The 40-strong US team, overseen by senior manager Alex Ingram, were let go as part of the cuts. It is believed that Tesla has retained a small number of marketing staff in Europe.
Responding to the Bloomberg piece in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk replied: “Exactly. The ads were far too generic – could’ve been any car.”
Exactly. The ads were far too generic – could’ve been any car.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024
Last week Musk told staff that he was laying off more than 10% of employees, as the firm recently posted results that led to its shares falling by at least 3.4%.
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Previously foregoing any traditional ad channels, Tesla’s brand building could largely be attributed to word-of-mouth until last year, when Musk said he would “try a little advertising” to see how it goes.
Musk has in the past stated that he hates advertising, and lashed out at advertisers, telling them to “go f*ck” themselves” after they withdrew advertising from X, formerly known as Twitter. Despite this, Tesla upped its marketing spend last month.
It came after the CEO became embroiled in controversy after appearing to express agreement with an antisemitic remark.
The company then began to lose millions after advertisers including IBM, Disney and more pulled out.
