For a long stretch, Tesla was too good for Facebook and Instagram ads — until now.
Tesla hasn’t had a Facebook page in six years, having deleted it as news of the company’s Cambridge Analytica data scandal came to light in 2018. But that changed on Sunday when the EV maker used Facebook again in a big way — launching an ad to tout its bestselling Model Y.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long been a skeptic of advertising. The company spent exactly $0 on ads in 2019, making it an oddball in an industry that spends billions on such marketing efforts.
That all changed after Musk purchased Twitter (which he rebranded as X), a site that relies on ad revenue. Musk recently began running Tesla ads on X, TikTok, and Google’s YouTube. And now, Facebook.
The move caught the attention of Deutsche Bank analysts, who touched on the news in a Tuesday morning email to investors. It was “apparently the first time Tesla has advertised on the platform,” the bank wrote.
Tesla also paid for ads on Meta’s other flagship social media platform, Instagram (also allegedly for the first time) on Mar. 26. Those ads are for Tesla’s Model Y, too, which got a price increase in the U.S. and Europe last week as the company faces a sales slowdown.
Tesla needs all the help it can get — even if it’s from social media marketing, which isn’t doing so hot itself. The company is navigating rough terrain this year, with challenges including a drop in EV demand, the rising popularity of EV rivals in China, and an uptick in product recalls. That rocky journey has followed Tesla into the stock market: The company has been the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 this year.
The roadblocks are piling up. Tesla said last week that it’s cutting production in China, which pushed down its share price. The automaker’s stock is down almost 30% year-to-date, but recovered some in Tuesday trading. Tesla’s share price rose 5% to $181.60, but still remains well below its closing price of $248 at the end of last year.
A timeline of Tesla and Facebook ads
2003: Tesla is launched by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in San Carlos, California.
2004: Facebook is founded by Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg.
2007: Zuckerberg debuts Facebook Ads.
2018: Elon Musk gets Tesla to delete its Facebook page.
2024: Tesla rejoins Facebook and buys ads on the site and its sister brand, Instagram.
More on Tesla’s difficult 2024
Tesla is the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year (still)
Tesla is raising Model Y prices in the U.S. and Europe even as a China price war rages