A guerrilla advertising campaign by a group calling itself Everyone Hates Elon is going viral around the world as sales of Elon Musk’s Tesla EVs plummet.
What started with a poster plastered on a bus stop in east London describing Tesla as “The Swasticar” has expanded to a series of parody advertising posters garnering millions of views on social media.
The initial poster featured an image of Musk delivering his US presidential Inauguration Day ‘Nazi’ salute while riding in a Tesla accompanied by the slogan: “Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds.”
Since then, ‘swasticar’ stickers have been placed on Teslas and posters have been placed on public transport proclaiming that “Hate doesn’t sell. Just ask Tesla”.
The group has also targeted Musk’s social media platform X with posters urging users to “Delete your account. If the bar lets Nazis in, it’s a Nazi bar”.
The campaign comes as year-on-year combined sales of Tesla Model Y and Model 3 EVs plummeted 71.9 per cent in February, compared to the same month a year earlier.
According to the Electric Vehicle Council, Tesla sold just 1592 vehicles in Australia in February, down from 5665 the same time last year.
The downward trend is global, as Europe experienced a 45 per cent drop in sales for January, with 9945 vehicles sold compared to 18,161 last year.
The EHE group has a GoFundMe page where proceeds go to the costs of campaigning against the tech mogul and Donald Trump’s efficiency tzar.
As well as Teslas, the group has targeted the X social media platform. Photo: EHE
Its statement on the fundraiser read: “Not happy with fuelling the far-right in the USA, Elon Musk is now doing the same in Europe. We can’t let the richest man in the world poison our politics. While nurses use food banks, his wealth grew by $200 billion last year.”
It continues: “We’ve plastered ‘don’t buy a swasticar’ stickers across hundreds of Teslas in London and taken a cardboard cutout of Elon Musk to a Tesla dealership …”
It has so far raised more than £4300 pounds ($A8800).
Musk has repeatedly attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over freedom of speech and other issues.
He is also a vocal and persistent supporter of far-right politics, posting content such as “From MAGA to MEGA: Make Europe Great Again!” and endorsing Germany and Britain’s far-right parties.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, an EHE organiser who wished to remain anonymous said the group’s campaign started amid frustration with Musk’s provocative social media posts meddling in British and European politics.
“[Musk] is the richest person in the world,” the EHE spokesperson said.
“He’s got $200 billion richer last year while nurses in this country have to use food banks. And he thinks he’s got a right to talk about what British people need or want.”
The EHE campaign aside, many believe that Musk’s pivot to far-right politics is fuelling a shift away from the Tesla brand.
“Owning a Tesla may no longer signal purely [a buyer’s] beliefs about sustainability. There may be a nod to political or ideological affiliations that do not align with their own,” James Obiegbu and Gretchen Larsen wrote last month.
They pointed to a recent trend of Tesla owners placing apology stickers on their vehicles as a way of negotiating the tension between owning one of the EVs and the behaviour of a CEO they do not agree with.
Meanwhile, a Facebook group for Tesla Cybertruck owners – Cybertruck Owners Only – is full of videos and photos of passersby and other drivers rudely gesturing to them, leaving notes that say “NAZI CAR”, kicking their cars and even throwing slices of cheese at it.
