If you're a fan of Elon Musk, then you know that he's against advertising. However, despite the billionaire's no-advertising mantra, his EV company Tesla spends millions of dollars on commercials.

This new information about Tesla's business activity was revealed in the data of Vivvix: the ad-tracking platform MediaRadar's subsidiary.

Tesla Spends Millions in Advertising Despite Elon Musk Hating It

According to Fortune's latest report, Vivvix estimated in 2022 that Elon Musk's EV firm will only spend $175,000. However, its latest data revealed that Tesla spent $6.4 million on digital advertising in 2023.

Tesla's ad spending focused on U.S.-targeted digital advertising during the first quarter of 2023. Specifically, the EV maker spent 900 times more on this advertising area.

Tesla's online commercials mainly focused on YouTube. But, the American automaker also launched ad campaigns on Google, Instagram, Facebook, and X (formerly called Twitter).

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Why Tesla Relies on Advertising Now?

The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk hated advertising. In 2019, he even posted a tweet to confirm his stance against ads.

"I hate advertising," said the billionaire, explaining that Tesla's products are already good enough and ads are unnecessary.

Since Tesla dismissed traditional forms of promotions, the automaker only relied on "word-of-mouth," Elon Musk's influence, and referral programs to popularize its EVs.

But, experts said that Tesla's shares nearly decreased by 30% in January because of the heightened competition from Chinese EV manufacturers.

Due to the intensifying EV market competition, Elon Musk said in May 2023 that he would like to try advertising his Tesla and see how it goes.

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