Tesla founder Elon Musk is well-known for his anti-advertising approach to business.
Musk refuses to buy advertising, instead relying on free advertising in the form of media coverage.
But this hasn’t stopped Tesla from being the focal point of advertising juggernaut Burger King’s latest spot.
The ad shows a Tesla smart car slowing down for a Burger King sign, apparently mistaking it for a stop sign.
“Smart cars are smart enough to brake for a whopper,” the ad says.
“Artificial intelligence knows what you crave.”
https://twitter.com/BurgerKing/status/1275425918991900673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1275425918991900673%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcleantechnica.com%2F2020%2F06%2F26%2Fburger-king-is-more-proof-that-tesla-doesnt-need-to-buy-ads-autopilotwhopper%2F
Although the campaign seemingly pokes fun at Tesla’s AI technology, it offered users free burgers if they could show their smart car doing the same thing.
So my car knows what’s up and stopped at @BurgerKing for lunch #freewhopper #AutopilotWhopper pic.twitter.com/sgIBaNL8sf
— Greg McNish (@gregmcnish) June 23, 2020
Tesla will no doubt be unhappy with the timing of the campaign.
As of July 1, Tesla will be charging its users $US8,000 to upgrade its self-driving capabilities as part of the Full Self-Driving package update.
Reminder that Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) price goes up by $1k on July 1st
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2020
