Elon Musk has become an increasingly divisive figure in recent years – but can his rightward shift sell more Tesla cars? Behavioural science says it might.

Even if you’re an infrequent user of X (or Twitter, if you’d prefer) you’re bound to have come across Elon Musk’s opinions. He’s a voracious tweeter.

According to analysis by The Economist he posts 220 times on average per week — and these comments are promoted heavily by the algorithm. It’s enough to make you wonder how he has enough time to run so many businesses.

His posts are also increasingly political. Again, The Economist notes that between 2016 and 2021, about 40% of his posts focused on Tesla and SpaceX. Now, it’s only 11%. Meanwhile, his political posts have risen from less than 4% to over 13%, covering mostly immigration, free speech and crime. There’s a definite swing rightwards.

Much of the ad industry commentary has been about the risk of alienating left-leaning users of Tesla and X. And there’s evidence of an “X-odus”. Ofcom reported that the UK usership of X has fallen by 4 million users since Musk’s takeover.

But there’s a flipside. Musk’s swing rightwards has the ability to attract new groups to electric cars. His political positioning might detoxify electric cars among MAGA enthusiasts, for one.

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Source : https://www.marketingweek.com/why-it-works-tesla-musk/