Articles

Charge Your Car Not The Culture Wars – The Strange New Reality For Tesla Owners

We live in strange times.

Once, Tesla was the symbol of innovation – an electric car company that changed the auto industry forever (and, maybe, about as Democratic blue and Leftie as one could get).
Now, it’s a lightning rod for political division.
We’ve seen Tesla dealerships vandalized, charging stations set on fire, and owners harassed.
It’s not because of faulty batteries or a bad recall.
It’s because people have tied the brand (maybe unfairly?) to one man: Elon Musk.

But is this fair?

Should the owners of a car brand be treated as political proxies and subject to taunts and violence?
Tesla’s profits have tanked.
Sales are slipping.
Even used Teslas are losing value at an alarming rate.

But let’s not let the present poison the reality:

The vast majority of people who own a Tesla didn’t buy it because of Musk’s posts on X, his politics, or his obsession with DOGE.
Most owners bought their vehicles long before this… and for the same reason anyone buys a car – because it suited their needs.
They wanted an electric car with great range.
A robust charging network.
A way to cut down on gas expenses (and help the enviornment).
Now, those same people find themselves dodging attacks – both online and in real life.
Some Tesla owners have removed the logos from their cars as a form of protest.
Others are slapping on fake Honda or Mazda logos to avoid confrontation.
I loved this take from my friend, Josh Bernoff: Leave the freakin’ Teslas alone.
Things might have reached peak absurdity when President Donald Trump called vandalism against Tesla properties an act of “domestic terrorism.”
It could have also been the live infomercial from the White House lawn.

That’s how you know we’ve entered an alternate timeline in this simulation.

As a reminder:
Most Tesla owners are just regular folks trying to get from A to B.
They didn’t sign up to be political pawns in the culture war.
Maybe we should stop treating a car brand as a battleground for ideological warfare?
If you really want to take a stand against Musk, you don’t have to key (or pee on) a stranger’s Tesla.
That doesn’t send a message – it just makes life harder for your neighbor.
Instead, you can create direct impact if you sell your shares in his company… or don’t buy a new Tesla… or support competitors.

Vote with your wallet and not by hating on your neighbors.

This is what Elias Makos and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM. Listen in right here.

Mitch Joel · Charge Your Car, Not The Culture War – The Strange New Reality For Tesla Owners

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.