Tesla Is Easier To Hit Than SpaceX

Consumer action could hit Elon Musk sooner - and harder - than he imagines

I have helped build effective consumer campaigns against major brands and suspect product categories, as with our series of Green Consumer Guides. But for those who suggest that such campaigns are easy to mobilise and sustain, I have long counter-argued that they are neither.

Timing is everything—and we consumers are best thought of as shock troops, able to deliver short, sharp shocks, but poorly equipped to sustain long-term campaigns.

Even so, I think the timing may be right for selective, effective action against Elon Musk’s Tesla. Musk has too much money to care much, but even he may have remnant concerns about the company.

Yes, I drive a Tesla, seeing it an exquisite entry point into the world of electric vehicles, but the brand now seems seriously tarnished.

Moreover, a friend in California just sent me this TechCrunch link, which suggests that the sparks may now be flying in the tinder-dry air.

Tesla is a whole lot easier to get at than SpaceX, of course. It has forecourts.

And it’s no accident, I imagine, that BlueSky has provided an early ignition point for the campaign, rather than Musk’s hog-tied and eviscerated X. Another reason to fight the growing media dependence on tech oligarchs like Bezos and Musk.