From the E to the G

Thanks to Jerry Olson for sharing a Fast Company column that is about, among other things, emotional decision making.

The author, Anne Marie Squeo, loves her Tesla.  It helps her live out her commitment to the environment. The sound system is great. It is eye-catching. As a Tesla driver, she felt like a pioneer who was working alongside the company to lead the world toward a new way of driving. She actually bought Tesla stock. Talk about feeling like part of a brand community!

And then Elon Musk bought Twitter. 

Now, as she writes, “I am embarrassed to drive it.” She apparently is not alone.

Tesla’s core target was environmentally-oriented, upper-middle class people, who probably lean a little left with their politics. But now Tesla’s CEO is tweeting conspiracy theories and pictures of guns on his bedside table, which presents a very different set of values than those espoused by most of those drivers. The result was a poor financial performance in 2022 and a similarly bleak outlook for 2023. 

Musk’s behavior, of course, is not the sole reason for his company’s struggles, but it is a significant one.  Obviously, he has a right to his political beliefs, but he may have been better advised to keep them to himself.

This illustrates the risks for brands looking to communicate about sustainability.  All aspects of the ESG triad (environment, social, corporate governance) have to be aligned. Tesla is perceived as an environmentally friendly brand, so it has nailed the “E.” However, that is outweighed by weakness on the “G” – the company is led by someone who seems brutish and immature, which is driving people away from the brand.