#Ford thinks these boomer memes will make you buy EVs

But… you’d be wrong.

Targeting EV skeptics, the automaker has posted a series of memes on Twitter in an attempt to highlight EV qualities and promote its own electric vehicles, I guess?

Admittedly, some of them are pretty funny and light-hearted:

Manifesting this for you all this season ✨#ElectricVehiclespic.twitter.com/GPPt2pJafD

— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) December 21, 2021

I mean, I’m totally this “Aunt Suze” at the Christmas table. Check out these two as well:

And somehow, you’re never worried when you’re flirting with E on the gas tank. #ElectricVehiclespic.twitter.com/zK6lydkv8w

— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) December 21, 2021

Yeah, the horse meme is very fun and shows one big advantage of EV driving — I mean, who hasn’t performed solos in their car?

The second meme, however, is setting a strange tone that gets even more intense in the following tweets, where things start to get weird and, may I say, judgemental.

One meme makes fun of people who claim they’d forget to charge their EV overnight, although they wouldn’t forget to charge their other electronic devices like phones and watches.

We’ve been trying to get you all comfortable with EVs for a while now, but maybe we were just speaking the wrong language.

A THREAD 🧵 pic.twitter.com/AKydD4YGhj

— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) December 21, 2021

Another mocks those who make short daily trips, but still worry that a 250km range wouldn’t be enough. And one targets American consumers for preferring the same old SUVs, instead of falling in love with the “exceptional performance” Mustang Mach-E.

Range anxiety, shmange anxiety #ElectricVehiclespic.twitter.com/yVyRdInbtE

— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) December 21, 2021

The problem with Ford’s memeing strategy

Well, I wouldn’t say that insulting or criticizing potential customers because they still have reservations or still don’t know a lot about EVs will help them decide to go electric.

Plus, throughout the memes there’s a clear distinction between “us” (the people who love EVs and EVs themselves) and “you” (the people who still resist for no reason).

Don’t get me wrong here, social media engagement is an efficient marketing strategy — I just don’t think that “aggressive” memes will convince anyone to buy an EV, let alone memes that fail to build positive feelings of solidarity and belonging. 

That said, I do like Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and I support automakers’ efforts to push towards an electric future — after all, SHIFT is sponsored by an electric car brand.

Still, I believe that when it comes to marketing an unfamiliar yet product, it’s more efficient to drop the dollar on sales techniques that focus on providing information and guidance.