Tesla hires celebrity ambassador despite Elon Musk saying they don’t pay for endorsements

Tesla has hired a celebrity ambassador, a departure from Elon Musk’s policy of not paying for celebrity endorsements.

Musk has often bragged about the fact that Tesla doesn’t pay for celebrity endorsements in contrast to other automakers who hire celebrity brand ambassadors to promote their cars.

Much like advertising, Musk seems to be abandoning this strategy.

Tesla announced that it hired Olympic shooter Kim Ye-ji, whose performance at the Paris Olympics this summer went viral, to be the automaker’s brand ambassador in Korea.

Kim said about her new partnership with Tesla:

I’m very excited to work with Tesla, who have recognized me. I hope to convey a positive message together with Tesla.”

Here are a few pictures released to announce her new partnership with Tesla:

Kim’s agency said that her relationship with Tesla started from CEO Elon Musk tweeting about her viral performance at the Olympics:

“The relationship between Kim Ye-ji and Tesla developed after Elon Musk mentioned her. The company said that Kim is Tesla Korea’s first brand ambassador.”

She is not only Tesla Korea’s first ambassador, but she is the first known paid celebrity ambassador for Tesla globally.

The policy change is not entirely surprising since the policy of Musk not paying celebrities to endorse Tesla’s products was often attached to the automaker’s strategy not to advertise.

Musk went as far as to say that he “hates advertising,” and Tesla started advertising last year.

The change in strategy coincidently, or not, came after Musk bought Twitter, a company relying on advertising, and Tesla even started to advertise on Twitter, now called X.

Tesla sales in Korea haven’t been amazing, but the country’s auto market greatly favors domestic brands. The American automaker does fairly well for a foreign brand with the Model Y becoming the best-selling imported vehicle in Korea during the first half of 2024.

Although, it amounted to just over 10,000 units.

Electrek’s Take

It’s a change of strategy, and Elon certainly can’t claim that Tesla doesn’t pay for celebrities to endorse its products, but it is probably a smart move due to the fact that Koreans prefer domestic brands.

Kim could help create a deeper level of attachment to the Tesla brand, but I don’t really know. I’m just speculating.