Investor Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC has criticized Tesla Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) approach to marketing and Public Relations again amid the controversy around a fatal crash in Texas.
Gary Black Laments Lack Of PR
In a thread on X on Tuesday, the investor lamented Tesla’s lack of a “proactive” PR strategy. “The media will serve up content that is spoon-fed to them,” Black said in his post.
Black also shared how he previously managed multiple PR and Ad campaigns, stressing the importance of communication for brands. “If you don’t put out your own proactive content the media has no choice but to run with a one-sided story,” the investor said.
“Most $TSLA bulls who’ve never run an ad campaign or PR effort don’t get this basic concept,” he said in the post, slamming bullish supporters of the EV giant.
The investor also mentioned how journalists he has interacted with often “complain about TSLA’s lack of PR.” He added that journalists “would welcome someone from TSLA offering the other side of a story to balance it out,” and that they do not “naturally” hate Tesla.
“The biggest challenge to getting accurate reporting on TSLA is getting TSLA to provide its side of the story,” the investor said. He also outlined that journalists wanted to be “credible.”
Elon Musk Clarifies Tesla’s Texas Crash
Following the crash, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, as well as the company’s AI lead Ashok Elluswamy, denied claims that the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system was involved in the Texas crash after the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the driver, 44-year-old Harris Butler, claimed that the vehicle was running with the Autopilot system turned on.
The crash, which happened when a Tesla Model 3 vehicle crashed into a home in Katy, Texas, on June 19, which resulted in the death of 76-year-old Martha Avila Mantilla. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also launched a probe into the incident.
Notably, the safety regulator is already probing over 3.2 million Tesla vehicles amid an investigation into the FSD tech, which recently moved to the Engineering Analysis phase, a stage that usually precedes a recall, according to the law
Benzinga Edge Rankings show that Tesla offers excellent Growth and Quality, but poor Momentum and Value. Tesla also fails to provide a favorable price trend in the Short, Medium and Long term.
Price Action: Tesla shares fell 5.19% to $384.02 during Pre-market trading on Wednesday.
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