Suffering from ‘Tesla Regret Syndrome’? Spoof ad from Seattle group is latest dig at Elon Musk

A Seattle-based activist group that has been taking part in protests aimed at Elon Musk and Tesla showrooms in the city has produced a new spoof commercial to drive home how it thinks owners of the electric vehicles might be feeling these days.

Troublemakers calls the condition “Tesla Regret Syndrome,” and in the 2-minute satirical ad, three separate Tesla owners are shown experiencing such symptoms as avoiding eye contact with other drivers and offering pre-emptive disclaimers about their car.

“I bought it five years ago!” a man says shamefully to a passing neighbor as he closes his garage door to shield his Tesla from view.

The ad, reported on Wednesday by The Seattle Times, is part of a larger campaign by Troublemakers that includes a website featuring calls to action to help alleviate TRS discomfort, such as joining a protest or convincing a friend to pursue a “complete excision” from their vehicle.

A hotline (1-866-EFF-MUSK) repeats some of the advice, and a recording even says, “If you own a Cybertruck, it’s probably best for you to hang up now and deal with the latest recall.”

Troublemakers has been involved in recent protests in the Seattle area at Tesla showrooms that are part of the global “Tesla Takedown” effort, aimed at expressing displeasure with Musk and his role in slashing U.S. government agencies and programs under President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Vandalism targeting Teslas has also spread in recent months, including a fire in Seattle that damaged four Cybertrucks. In a post on his social media platform X, Musk said Troublemakers organizer Valerie Costa was “committing crimes” with the group’s protest actions.

Costa defended the new ad in a statement.

“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. “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.”

GeekWire reported last month on Tesla owners in Seattle who are joining the wave of those trading in their vehicles to get away from the backlash around Musk and the brand. In Seattle-area households, Tesla outpaces Subaru as the most represented vehicle type, according to a recent Seattle Times report.

Troublemakers, which calls itself an “ever-growing community of people who are committed to taking action for life on Earth,” urges an end to what it calls devastating practices, including the burning of fossil fuels.

In March 2024, the group staged a protest blocking access to Amazon headquarters in Seattle and calling on the tech giant to cancel its plans to use natural gas from a new pipeline being built in Oregon to power three data centers in the state. Troublemakers joined other environmental groups in July 2024 to target Amazon’s climate-related actions again, on Prime Day.