4 ms·

so?

• kelthuzad 3y ago
  Elon has previously stated that he doesn't believe in advertising, "Tesla doesn't advertise". I assume that's the reason why it's newsworthy.
  • jojobas 3y ago
    Maybe it didn't in the past, definitely does for a while now. There are TV ads from 2022. Regardless, why is Tesla advertising policy news, on YC of all places?
    • rapsey 3y ago
      People love a new opportunity to bash on Musk.
      • kelthuzad 3y ago
        Elon also loves a new opportunity to bash people, what goes around comes around.
        • spiderice 3y ago
          Not sure we want HN to become the place where we bash people that like to bash people.
          • kelthuzad 3y ago
            I'm not saying that's what I want, I'm simply stating a rule of nature or rule of thumb, whatever you want to call it. What goes around tends to come around.
  • hackerlight 3y ago
    There's also the obvious conflict of interest. How does that get resolved?
    • djbusby 3y ago
      Maybe compare the spend to other channels? If it's significant difference then it's a problem? If all online channels are 200k and Twitter is one of 12 well, NBD.
      • jojobas 3y ago
        Spend in other channels would be irrelevant. Fair pricing is the only thing I can think of.
    • uhohspaghetti 3y ago
      [dead]
    • rapsey 3y ago
      Is this a moral or legal code that is being broken somehow? Because he owns both companies it is somehow immoral to do business between them?
      • tayo42 3y ago
        no, but there is potential so its probably better off not doing it. but this sounds pretty low for a major company's advertising budget and pretty low in relative amounts to be worth risking doing corrupt things.
      • ipv6ipv4 3y ago
        Tesla is a publicly traded company with shareholders. Twitter is Musk’s private plaything. Tesla using Twitter services could be a conflict of interest because Musk is CEO of both and could be using his position at Tesla to funnel public shareholder money into Twitter, aka his pocket.
      • nrb 3y ago
  • memish 3y ago
    He said a while ago that he was open to trying it in response to some shareholders who kept asking him to advertise.
  • mandeepj 3y ago
    > Elon has previously stated that he doesn't believe in advertising I have seen numerous Tesla ads on Youtube
    • hughesjj 3y ago
      Also tons of astroturfing
  • yfw 3y ago
    He also says he'll be the last to sell Tesla stock
  • akira2501 3y ago
    "Lying CEO lies again." or "Overconfident CEO has to eat his words again." Is this really a Musk thing or is he just the most visible and comical example of it?
    • ben_w 3y ago
      Most visible. Seen many opine that SpaceX is slow and expensive, which only makes sense when anchored against Musk's fantasy timelines as all the old space companies are much slower and more expensive than what SpaceX actually delivers. Likewise with electric cars, the talking point is how Musk didn't really found Tesla, not that pre-Musk-CEO Tesla delivered 147 cars in 5.5 years for over a million dollars invested per vehicle.
    • numpad0 3y ago
      Or, maybe the need for a focus group research with Tesla, advertising, and Twitter as topic had risen?
  • yunohn 3y ago
    It’s also a tough bit of hypocrisy because he said he doesn’t believe in advertising and then bought a social media company that (like others) relies on advertising for the majority of its revenue.
• jasonlotito 3y ago
  The article covers this. Quite well in fact. A public company where the owner had said “Tesla does not advertise or pay for endorsements” had said they were going to start doing that and this is following up on that. These sorts of things are generally note worthy for public companies. “Instead [of advertising], we use that money to make the product great.” That they feel the need to start advertising might mean the product isn’t as good as it was once perceived to be. The article goes into this more. Asking “so?” Makes it appear as if you just read the headline and thought you knew enough to make a worthwhile comment here. Which I know isn’t true. So?
  • rapsey 3y ago
    You are right that is exactly what I did. I did not need to read the article to know what they are talking about. A company maturing and doing what every other company is doing is not however interesting. The only reason it is a story is because it is an Elon company. Personally what I find strange is how people perceive Twitter comments as somehow a contract with the public. People say lots of things, the smart ones are able to change their minds.
    • metabagel 3y ago
      It’s a story, because people wonder if he’s using funds from one company he controls to prop up another company which he outright owns. Right now, the amount is small, but I expect it will increase.
    • jasonlotito 3y ago
      So you argument is that Elon Musk is unimportant? That statements made to investors is unimportant? That changes made about quality and spending and where money is being used is not important to investors for publically traded companies? That's an odd stance to take.
• wesselbindt 3y ago
  Something about monopolies and cartels being bad.