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Protests take a satirical approach in 'Tesla Regret Syndrome' ad

Kai Uyehara, The Seattle Times on

Published in Business News

SEATTLE — Anti-Elon Musk activists from Seattle's Troublemakers group this week are airing a satirical pharmaceutical advertisement video on the "Tesla Regret Syndrome."

"Do you find yourself giving preemptive disclaimers about your car?" a narrator says in the video as a man begins to lower his garage door, covering the back of his Tesla and its signature T logo.

A woman scowls at the man as she walks by him with her dog. Ashamed, he says, "I bought it five years ago!"

The activist group, once focused on advocating against the use of fossil fuels, has been engaged in #TeslaTakedown protests outside multiple Tesla showrooms across the Seattle area each Saturday for weeks to demand the ousting of Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

"Are you worried that you're enabling the fall of democracy?" the parody continued. "If these symptoms describe you, you may be suffering from Tesla Regret Syndrome, or TRS."

The video can be viewed at st.news/anti-tesla-psa.

 

The video is part of a larger campaign against Tesla, which has seen Tesla Regret Syndrome banners hung over highways, informational pamphlets, free Tesla debadging stations, "a help line," and a website, the Troublemakers said in a news release.

The spot calls on viewers to "offload" their Tesla and any stock they have in Musk's companies if they can, but if they can't afford such retaliatory efforts, they can slap a bumper sticker onto their Tesla decrying Musk or post anti-Tesla resources and actions. The video ends by saying acts of violence, vandalism and self-flagellation are not recommended and have shown no efficacy.

One organizer from the Troublemakers, Valerie Costa, was called a criminal by Musk on Musk's social media platform, X, as he conflated the protests Costa helped put together with vandalism and violence targeting Teslas over the past months. Seattle police said in March that no crimes were reported at these protests.

"We started this campaign because we knew so many people who bought Teslas for the right reasons, and suddenly they were forced to be rolling billboards for a Nazi destroying our country's infrastructure," Costa said in a prepared statement. "They hated it, and felt trapped. But Musk is not all-powerful, and people who own Teslas have special leverage right now ... so we wanted to show that, creatively and with humor."

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©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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